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LIFE OF CHARLES CARROLL 
of CARROLLTON 




Charles Carroll of Carrollton 



LIFE OF 

CHARLES CARROLL 
of CARROLLTON 



By 

LEWIS A. LEONARD 

of The Times-Union, Albany, N. Y., Editorial Staff 



Mr. Carroll was as good as he was great." 

/. H. B. LalTohe 



NEW YORK 

MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 

1918 



Copyright, 1918 
By lewis a. LEONARD 



MAR 1! \m 

©CI,A494009 




TO THE MEMORY 
of ' 
A useful citizen, an able statesman and a loyal friend — 
to the Memory of 
HON. JOHN LEE CARROLL 
Former Governor of Maryland 
This Book is respectfully dedicated by one who knew his virtues, 
appreciated his friendship and recognized his great ability 
[5] 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGES 

Chapter 1. The Province of Maryland as the First Carroll 

Found It 25 

' 2. The First Carroll in the Province of Maryland. . . 33 

3. Downfall of the Proprietary Government of the 

Province 41 

4. Charles Carroll of Annapolis in the Province 49 

5. Student Life at Le Grand — Law and Love in 

London — An Interesting Letter 59 

6. Young Charles Prepares for His Return to the 

Home of His Childhood 71 

7. Returns to America and Becomes Charles Carroll 

of CarroUton 79 

8. Charles Carroll of Carrolltou in the Character of 

" First Citizen " 87 

9. Rumblings of Colonial Discontent 97 

10. Meeting and Work of the First Continental 

Congiess 103 

11. News from England — Trip of the Commissioners 

to Canada 113 

12. Declaration of Independence — The New Con- 

stitution for Maryland 123 

13. Signing the Declaration of Independence — And 

the Men who Signed It 131 

14. Work on National and State Legislation — Death 

of Father and Wife 141 

15. With Washington and His Army at Valley 

Forge — The Brewing of a Conspiracy 151 

16. The Conway Cabal — Charles Carroll of Carroll- 

ton Foils the Conspiracy to Displace Wash- 
ington 161 

17. The Peace of Paris and Conditions Leading to 

the French Alliance 173 

18. Further Details of and Alliance with France 179 

19. Robert Morris with the Aid of Carroll and 

Others Saves the Financial Situation 189 

[7] 



8 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

PAGES 

Chapter 20. The War Nearing an End — Mr. Carroll's 

Interest in " The Maryland Line " 197 

21. Early Days of Peace — Mr. Carroll a United 

States Senator 203 

22. Resigns as a United States Senator that He May 

Continue as a Maryland Senator 213 

'. 23. Attention to the Estate — Death of His Son 223 

24. Organizing the B. & 0. R. R.— Other Incidents 

and Activities in Public Life 229 

25. Birth and Development of the United States Navy. 235 

26. Louis Le Grand College Where the Spark of Lib- 

erty was Fanned into a Flame 241 

27. Benevolence and Business — The Washington 

Letter 251 

i 28. Carrolls of the Past and of To-day 259 

29. Declaration of Independence as Jefferson Drew It 

and as It was Passed 265 



Appendix 277 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

Charles Carroll of CarroUton Frontispiece \^ 

The Carroll Arms 24 ^ 

Doughoregan Manor, Home of the Carrolls 32 

I^ntrance to the Manor 64 

Interior of the Manor Home 64 K 

The Chapel at Doughoregan Manor 96 '^ 

St. Charles College Founded by Charles Carroll of CarroUton. . 128 ^ 

Hon. John Lee Carroll, Governor of Maryland in 1876 160'^'^ 

The Letter of Gen. Washington to the Catholics of America .... 256 '■ 

Fae-Simile Copy of the Declaration of Independence 264 . 

[9] 



SOURCES 



The unpublished Letters of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 

Archives of the State of Maryland, printed by authority of the 
Legislature of the State under the direction of the Maryland Histor- 
ical Society. 

The Calvert papers. 

Maryland records, Colonial and Revolutionary, County and 
Church, copied by Dr. Gains Marcus Brumbaugh. 

Ridgley's annals of Annapolis, 

Letters, papers and personal interviews with Mr. J. H. B. Latrobe, 
private secretary to Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 

History of Maryland, the Colonial period by John Leeds Bozman. 

County histories and other local histories of Maryland, and other 
States. 

Life and letters of Charles CaiToll of Carrollton by Miss Kate 
Mason Rowland. 

[Ill 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The thanks of the author for valuable suggestions, information 
and assistance in research work and in other ways are due and 
hereby tendered to 

Former Governor Martin H. Glynn of New York. 

Mr. William G. Roberts of Cincinnati, 0. 

Former Governor Edwin Warfield of Mainland. 

Mr. Gamble Latrobe of Baltimore, Md. 

Miss Virginia Scott MacTavish of Rome, Italy. 

Mrs. Herbert D. Robbins of New York. 

Mr. John E. Semmes of Baltimore, Md. 

Miss Jennie M. Davis of New York. 

Mr. Charles Bancroft Carroll of Doughorogjin and now an 
officer of the U. S. navy. 

Miss Lizzie Commerford of Middleiield, Conn. 

Mr. Frank L. Tolman of Albany, N. Y. 

Mr. George G. Champlin of Albany, N. Y. 

Miss Jessie F. Wlaeeler of Troy, N. Y. 

Mr. Harry G. Michener, President of The Bank of North 
America, Philadelphia, Pa. 
[12] 



PREFACE 

TO THE 

LIFE OF CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

BY FORMER 

GOVERNOR MARTIN H. GLYNN 

OF NEW YORK 

This, in my opinion, is a book which should be in 
the library of every lover of American history. 

Charles Carroll played a big part in the drama of 
American Independence, a far bigger part than is 
popularly supposed. School histories dismiss him with 
a few lines and most histories give larger space to men 
who played far minor parts. For this reason his- 
torical justice has never been fully accorded to Charles 
Carroll. This book corrects that injustice. Its author, 
a Marylander by birth, with the zeal and enthusiasm 
of a native son for his own heath, its traditions and 
its men of note, has given years to the research 
needed to unearth such a mine of historical knowledge. 
And with him it has been a labor of love. His for- 
bears were intimately connected with the Carrolls and 
so Mr. Leonard has more than musty old records for 
the source of his inspiration. I believe that he has 
done simple justice to the name and fame of Charles 
Carroll and nothing more. The great pity is, it was 
not done years ago. 

George Washington had no truer, no stauncher 
friend than Charles Carroll, though the world has 
partially blinked the fact. Others of the Colonial 
fathers might waver here, and falter there, but Charles 
Carroll always upheld the hands of Washington as 
Aaron and Hur upheld the hands of Moses in his 
battle with Amalek. In this country Charles Carroll 

[13] 



14 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

saw the Promised Land for which sages had sighed 
and philosophers had dreamed and for it he risked 
his all on the turn of the Revolutionary die, and his 
all was more in worldly goods than any other signer of 
the Declaration of Independence. 

Charles Carroll was a democrat by nature as well 
as by name. His opinions prove it, his acts prove it. 
Educated in the atmosphere of France wherefrom 
came the great champions of Modern Democracy, 
Charles Carroll fought in America for what he learned 
in France. Lafayette, DeGrasse, Vergennes, and 
DeVal were all educated as Carroll was educated and 
as they thought on Democracy, so thought Charles 
Carroll. 

The world will never know how much the United 
States owes to Charles Carroll for the help we received 
in France in the Revolutionary War. Benjamin 
Franklin and Charles Carroll were always the closest 
friends and he who thinks as he reads can easily dis- 
cern that the men who helped Franklin most in France 
were the men responsive to the old associations of the 
CarroUs in France. 

Of Charles Carroll it can be said that his history 
is the history of the Maryland of his day and from 
Maryland his influence radiated far and wide through- 
out the land. 

In the old method of general historical writing where 
one man attempted the impossible task of writing his- 
tory in its entirety, the work and worth of men like 
Charles Carroll did not loom up in their proper pros- 
pective. In such impressionistic history they were 
dwarfed by the splendor of those performing more 
(Spectacular parts. But under the monograph system 
sponsored by Lord Acton of Cambridge University, 
such historical injustice is fast passing away. This 
book is such a monograph. It is a valuable contribution 



PREFACE 15 

to American history. It does justice to a man to whom 
Americans owe an ineffable debt of gratitude. 

I have watched this book grow since pencil first 
touched its paper ; and, if others get as much pleasure 
from its perusal as I have from its companionship, 
they will have in it a happy acquisition. 

MARTIN H. GLYNN. 



INTRODUCTION 



CHARLES CARROLL of Cariollton easily 
ranked next to Washington in the value of 
the services rendered the patriot cause in our 
Revolutionary struggle. 

He devoted more of his time and more of his 
money to the cause of the people than any other 
patriot. 

He spent more time with Washington at army 
headquarters than any other civilian, and was more 
closely identified with the purposes, impulses and 
activities of the great commander than any other man 
in or out of the army. 

He served the people in more different positions of 
responsibility and usefulness than did any other man, 
and never failed in a single instance, to measure up 
to the highest standard of statesmanship and patriot- 
ism. 

During the critical year of 1776 he was a member 
of Congress, a member of the Maryland Assembly, 
Member of the Convention to draw a new constitu- 
tion for the state, member of three different pro- 
vincial committees, member of the War Board 
charged with the conduct of the war, and a commis- 
sioner from the United States to Canada. And in 
every position he was either the most active, or one 
of the most active in the work. In addition to these 
duties that year, he was the most successful man in 
his county in collecting coin to be sent to the soldiers 
in Canada, and was superintending the erection of 
saltpeter works for producing gun powder. It is not 

[17] 



18 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

necessary to add that he gave every moment of his 
time to the public. 

He was the richest man that signed The Declaration 
of Independence, the first man that signed, the most 
useful man that signed, the only Roman Catholic that 
signed, and the last man to die of those who signed it. 

These are a few of the many reasons that have con- 
vinced me that full justice has never been done to 
the memory of the noblest citizen of my native state. 

The work of preparing this book is in pursuance of 
a long cherished purpose. The Carroll history and 
traditions have been familiar to me from the time of 
my early youth. My grandfather and his father were 
closely associated for a great many years with 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton in an important busi- 
ness enterprise; and my father knew the famous 
signer as well as a boy of thirteen would be likely to 
know an elderly man. It was in this way that my 
knowledge of, and interest in the Carroll family com- 
menced as soon as I was old enough to give thought 
to such affairs. The feeling that I ought put in 
shape the facts at my command grew as I saw others 
better qualified for the work pass away. 

During the winter of 1865-66 I was a law student 
in the office of I. C. W. Powell, an eminent lawyer of 
Easton, Md. The firm of Johnson & Kerr of Balti- 
more attended to Court of Appeals business for Mr. 
Powell, and I was a great deal in their office. Mr. 
Reverdy Johnson was a United States Senator from 
Maryland, and his son-in-law, Mr. Charles Kerr, a 
native of our county, was a close friend of Mr. Powell 
and of Mr. J. H. B. Latrobe. In this way I made the 
acquaintance of Mr. Latrobe. He had office room 
with Johnson & Kerr, and was busy at the time revis- 
ing his law book, '* Justice Practice in Maryland " 
and I helped him whenever I could in tliis work. 



INTRODUCTION 19 

Mr. Latrobe was for many years private secretary to 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and wrote the life of 
Mr. Carroll for Sanderson's Lives of the Signers of 
the Declaration of Independence. This work as pre- 
pared by hiin made 85 pages of manuscript and would 
have been about 85 pages in Sanderson's book. But 
after Mr. Carroll had cut out all he thought ought to 
be cut out, and Sanderson had cut out all he thought 
ought to be cut out, but 21 pages were left. This 
presented but a meagre and inadequate telling of a 
great story. Mr. Latrobe explained that Mr. Carroll 
was living at the time and added, " You know, no 
man's biography can be written properly during his 
life time. ' ' Mr. Latrobe read me the original manu- 
script two or three times and commented on various 
phases of it. He also had very full notes of Mr. 
Carroll's work in connection with our relation with 
France. It was his intention to write a volume on 
the French Alliance, and with that purpose in view 
he had secured valuable papers original and copies 
from France. My interest in the matter by reason 
of the association of my family with the CarroUs 
made Mr. Latrobe the more ready to talk to me on 
the subject. At that time Mr. Latrobe appeared to 
me to be the ablest, best posted and most versatile 
man I had ever met. Literally, he seemed to know 
everything on every subject, and to be able to tell it 
in a most entertaining manner. Each time I met 
him, he had a new fund of entertaining information. 
It is not too much to say that no man in my entire 
life ever impressed me as did Mr. J. H. B. Latrobe. 
Sometimes I have thought it might be merely my 
boyish admiration for an older man who seemed to 
take me so fully into his confidence ; yet when I recall 
the things he said, the subjects he discussed, the 
information he imparted; I am still impressed with 



20 CHARLES CAREOLL OF CARROLLTON 

the belief in his great ability. It was from this man 
who was so close to Charles Carroll of CarroUton for 
so many years, and who loved him so well, that I 
drew the inspiration that impelled the writing of 
this book. One day in speaking of the venerable 
signer, I asked how he ranked as compared with 
Senator Jolinson. He did not directly answer the 
question, but said after a pause, *' I know of no man 
of the present generation who could anywhere near 
rank with him in the essentials of real greatness. He 
had unusual opportunities and he made the most of 
them. I think of Mr. Carroll as Burke said of Pitt, 
' You couldn't go under a shed with him out of the 
rain, without feeling that you were in the presence of 
greatness. ' ' ' Then he reverently added, ' ' and what 
is more Mr. Carroll was as good as he was great." 
It Avas mainly to give an idea of the value of this 
opinion that I told so fully what manner of man 
Mr. Latrobe actually was. When I next saw him 
after that winter, some years had elapsed. His son. 
Gen. Ferdinand C. Latrobe, was Mayor of Baltimore 
for the second, third or fourth time, but his father 
seemed as vigorous, entertaining and lovable as ever. 
I expressed the hope that if he did not write the 
things he had in mind, he would leave his papers so 
that his son could do so ; but he replied, ' ' Ferdinand 
is too busy with the present and future to care much 
about the past." However the papers have fallen 
into competent and loving hands ; and besides the use 
that has already been made of them the country is to 
have a life of that most able, estimable and lovable 
of men, J. H. B. Latrobe. That he wrote history, 
invented a stove, experimented Avith electricity and 
chemistry, and was one of the best lawyers of the 
state, being for years attorne}^ for the B. & 0. Rail- 
road, is pretty good evidence of his ability and versa- 



INTRODUCTION 21 

tility. His father was a man of great worth and 
experience and the son had fully lived up to the 
opportunities that had been afforded him. 

Reading the voluminous correspondence of Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton, one is impressed with the 
great industry, ability and usefulness of the man, but 
is still more struck with the vein of genuine piety that 
runs through his busy career. He never forgot his 
religion, never faltered in his abiding faith in God. 
As I read, I caught myself repeating Mr. Latrobe's 
remark of years ago, " He w^as as good as he w^as 
great. ' ' 

Mr. Carroll's life has never been written. The 
twenty-one pages in " Sanderson's Lives " tell but 
little, and told that before his career was ended. The 
valuable work of Miss Kate Mason Rowland is 
devoted mainly to making a record of the Carroll 
letters and documents and in that way represents 
great labor: and is a work that will be used by 
scholars in aU times. It was in no sense intended as 
a commercial enterprise, but w^as issued in a small 
edition at the expense of the family for their own 
satisfaction; as well as for the use of future histor- 
ians. These, with some short sketches mainly in 
state histories and religious books, comprise all that 
has been told of a man who certainly deserves to 
rank as one of the very greatest of his own or any 
other age. 

In telling the life story of one w^hose time was so 
fully given to the public, it is necessary to recount 
much of the history of the days in which he lived. 
Any one doing this kind of work will be struck by 
the many discrepancies encountered in what he had 
been led to consider reliable authorities. Where such 
differences are found, it is necessary to go back to 
original sources of information when this can be 



22 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

done; and where this is not possible, one must be 
guided by the weight of authority taken in connection 
with all the surrounding circumstances. This I have 
endeavored to do. I realize too, the danger of writing 
history not found in the school books; being fully 
aware that the most confident critics are those whose 
knowledge of history is derived from the books they 
read at school. A historian once said, "After one 
has spent weeks trying to settle a point to his satis- 
faction, he is likely to meet a man at dinner who can 
tell him all about it in five minutes with one hand 
tied behind him." 

Studying Mr. Carroll carefully and weighing his 
letters, documents and the records of his whole life 
as seen by his co-temporaries one is likely to think 
of him much as Mr. Latrobe did. Endowed with a 
fine mind he had every advantage which good health, 
great industry and unlimited means could give. 
When he returned to Maryland in his twenty-sixth 
year to take his place in the Province, he not only 
knew books; but he had studied men and conditions 
in the principal countries of Europe, and he was a 
well educated man in a much broader sense than is 
implied by that term today. The position of leader- 
ship which he won as *' First Citizen " on entering 
public life, he held to the end of his career. 

In personal appearance Mr. Carroll was a small 
man, with bright blue eyes, and clean cut rather sharp 
features. It was noted that one of Marshland's 
signers was the smallest man physically of the group, 
and another the largest. Mr. Carroll weighed about 
125 pounds and Chase standing six feet two weighed 
over 250; and the two were the closest and most in- 
separable of friends. 

Though associated so closely and so prominently 
with colonial and revolutionarv days Mr. Carroll's 



INTRODUCTION 23 

long life brought him closer to the present generation 
than one would think., He had not been dead thirty 
years when the civil war began. Many of the old 
people of my younger days, had met him and some 
like Mr. Latrobe, Judge Chambers, General Tench 
Tilghman, Governor Thomas and Governor Sam 
Stevens knew him well. 
' Lewis A. Leonard. 

AiiBANY, N. Y., December 1, 1917. 



THE MARYLAND CARROLLS 

During the revolutionary period of the province of 
Maryland there were six members of the Carroll family 
in active political work on the side of the patriots. 

They were Charles Carroll of Annapolis, and his 
son Charles Carroll of Carrollton ; Daniel Carroll, who 
was a member of the Maryland assembly, president of 
the Senate, member of Congress and one of the makers 
and signers of the federal constitution; Rev. John 
Carroll one of the United States Commissioners to 
Canada and the first Bishop and first archbishop in 
this Country. He was the brother of Daniel and 
cousin of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Then there 
was Charles Carroll, Barrister who was a member of 
Congress, of the State Senate and of various Colonial 
and State Committees. The sixth Carroll, was Henry 
James Carroll who married Elizabeth Barnes of 
Kingston Hall, Somerset county. He was the son of 
Henry Carroll of Susquehanna Manor in St. Mary's 
but moved to the Eastern shore just before the break- 
ing out of the revolution and was an active patriot in 
that part of the State. His grandson Thomas King 
Carroll, was governor of Maryland in 1830-1831. 

[24] 



LIFE OF CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 



CHAPTER I 

THE PROVINCE OF MARYLAND AS THE FIRST 
CARROLL FOUND IT 

The government which Lord Baltimore gave to the 
Colony of Maryland was not only the most liberal and 
the fairest that the world had known up to that time, 
bnt it was peculiar and novel as well as most fascinat- 
ing. It was the fascination of this government as well 
as its liberality that caused settlers from all directions 
to flock to the province. 

George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, was no 
novice in either statecraft or the work of planting a 
colony. He had the advantage of experience in both 
lines of work before the Mar^dand undertaking was 
considered. 

Although his conversion to the Catholic faith had 
caused the forfeiture of his official positions, it in no 
way seemed to lessen the regard and confidence that 
his Sovereign had in him. It was, therefore, mainly by 
reason of his high standing, lofty character and great 
ability that he was enabled to secure a concession or 
charter for the territory, which became the Province of 
Maryland; of a nature different from any concession 
that had ever been made. He became the absolute 
owner of the territory. All titles had to come from 
him. He arranged the plan of government and was 
the source of all power, and the maker of all laws. No 
one, not even the King had to be consulted in the 
management of the Province and its people. 

[25] 



26 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Although George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, 
died before any of his plans could be put into opera- 
tion, the whole scheme was the result of his experience 
and deep thought. 

Previous to the Maryland charter, Lord Baltimore 
had established a settlement in Newfoundland. First, 
this was merely an estate, then a settlement and finally 
a colony. This effort was a kind of experimental 
school. He called the settlement Avalon and its capital 
city was Annapolis; the first Annapolis. Though the 
climate was hard, and the soil rough and unproductive, 
the colony flourished, till news of the beautiful loca- 
tion, rich soil, and mild climate of the Maryland con- 
cession caused dissatisfaction and made many of the 
colonists want to move south. They were humored in 
this desire and nearly two hundred of them were 
brought down the coast under command of Nathaniel 
Leonard, cousin of Lord Baltimore, who had suc- 
ceeded John Wyatt as Governor of Avalon. These 
reached Maryland two months after the Ark and the 
Dove had brought Lord Baltimore's first settlers to the 
Chesapeake, and there formed the first considerable 
accession to the new colony. But Avalon survived the 
loss of so many of its people and was made a division 
of Maryland to which it paid fealty of a bushel of 
grain and twelve arrow heads each year as long as the 
proprietary government existed, or till about the time 
just previous to our Revolutionary War. 

The death of George Calvert left the colony as an 
inheritance to his son, Cecelius Calvert, who appointed 
his brother, Leonard Calvert, Governor of the Prov- 
ince and manager of his affairs. The first Lord Bal- 
timore had matured his plans so carefully, and had so 
fully arranged all the details of government and 
management, that it was only necessary to consult 



THE PROVINCE OF MARYLAND 27 

instructions and be prepared to meet new conditions 
as they arose. And the new conditions did arise thick 
and fast. The colony was assailed from without and 
within by enemies in London and neighbors in Vir- 
ginia. But a detail of these is not necessary for the 
purposes of this effort. In spite of all these obstacles 
the colony grew and developed and the laws, customs 
and manner of living were carried out, much as out- 
lined by the original Proprietor. The Province was 
divided into counties and the counties into hundreds. 
Grants of land were made to gentlemen and the size of 
the grant depended on the number of followers, 
attendants or subtenants which the gentleman could 
command. 

There was no idea of democracy as we understand 
it; yet the charter provided that the Governor should 
consult the people in the making of laws. The manner 
of this consultation was left entirely to the Lord 
Proprietor or the Governor appointed by him. 

But the Governor seems to have been fair and liberal 
iu all things and no conflict between him and the 
Assembly occurred. The Assembly was elected by the 
gentlemen who were the large land owners and known 
as Lords of the Manor. Each manor was a tract of 
many thousands of acres, not less than 2,000; either 
cultivated by the Lord of the Manor or let to sub- 
tenants. The Manor House was the head of the settle- 
ment and the owner as Lord of the Manor, was a kind 
of magistrate. He held Manor Court for the settle- 
ment of disputes between the Lord of the Manor and 
his tenants or followers and Leet court for the adjust- 
ment of matters between these tenants. 

The Manor House was the social centre; and the 
Lords and Ladies of the Manor engaged in such sports 
and social accomplishments as they learned in England 



28 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

and Ireland or bad been developed as a result of condi- 
tions in tbe new world. Tbese social doings took sucb 
a bold, tbat after otber features of colonial life bad 
been supplanted, tbe people beld fast to many of tbem. 
Tbe bouse party at tbe Manor, tbe bunt, tbe regatta, 
tbe riding tournament claimed places in tbe social life 
of Maryland till after tbe Civil War. 

And tbese Manor Lords bad eacb bis coat of arms 
and tbe province boasted of its own flag, as artistic and 
pretty a banner as any people ever unfolded to tbe 
breeze. 

Tbe introduction of slavery wbicb warped tbe plans 
of Manor life in many respects did not materially 
lessen tbe social features. Lord Baltimore did not con- 
template an ideal republic nor conceive of a democracy ; 
but bis ambition was to found an aristocratic state 
wbere tbe people would be prosperous and bappy, and 
wbere all would enjoy tbe full measure of tbat liberty 
for wbicb eacb was fitted. It is believed by many tbat 
be contemplated conferring patents of nobility. His 
laws provided tbat tbe Lord of tbe Manor sbould be 
addressed as Esquire and otber landowners as Mister. 

But above all be made it clear tbat tbe fullest 
measure of religious liberty sbould be enjoyed. His 
motto was '^ toleration for all religion tbat accepts tbe 
divinity of Jesus Cbrist; but tbe establisbment of 
none." 

His laws also provided tbat no cburcli or religious 
body sbould become tbe bolder of a large tract of land 
nor sbould any minister, priest or preacber be eligible 
as a member of tbe Assembly. Tbese principles took 
sucb a bold on tbe people of tbe colony tbat tbey were 
grafted on tbe laws of Maryland after tbe Revolution, 
and tbeir influence is seen on tbe statute books to tbe 
present day. 



THE PROVINCE OF MARYLAND 29 

While Massachusetts and the other Puritan colonies 
were persecuting Quakers, selling them into slaverj^ in 
Jamaica because of their religious belief, and per- 
suasively using a hot iron on the tip of the tongue to 
convince them of the error of their beliefs ; and while 
Boston was going so far as to tie a clergyman to the 
tail of a cart and whip him through the streets as an 
argument against immersion as a religious rite, and 
the Colony of Virginia was expelling the Puritans ; the 
Province of Maryland, through its Assembly and at 
the instance of the Lord Proprietor was proclaiming 
religious liberty ; the motto from the first, being ' ' tol- 
eration for all religions and the establishment of 
none." 

While these principles had prevailed from the first, 
on April 21, 1649, the Assembly at the instance of the 
Proprietor passed the following law to make the 
matter entirely clear : 

No person professing to believe in Jesus Christ 
shall from henceforth be any ways troubled, 
molested or discountenanced for, or in respect of 
his or her religion ; nor in the free exercise thereof 
within this Province nor in any way be compelled 
to the belief or exercise of any other religion 



The act further provided that " if any person shall 
willfully wrong another person because of his religion, 
he shall be compelled to pay treble damages to the 
person so wronged. And if the wrong doer shall refuse 
or be unable to pay damages, he shall be publicly 
whipped and imprisoned." 

The enunciation of these principles brought to the 
Province people of all shades of religious views and it 
isn't to the credit of the new comers that as soon as 



30 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

they found themselves in the majority and had tem- 
porarily wrested the government from the hands of 
the Lord Proprietor they made laws disfranchising and 
oppressing the Catholics. The ups and downs of these 
struggles make a story too tedious to be told in this 
connection, but no part of it reflects discredit on any 
of the early descendants or followers of the Lord Pro- 
prietor. Loyal and intelligent Marylanders of to-day 
and of all opinions regardless of religion, are proud 
of the records of the early Calvert family made in 
carrying out the views and wishes of the first Lord 
Baltimore. 

Maryland was in no sense a penal colony. The 
people were required to be citizens of respectability 
from the first. No gentleman was permitted to bring- 
as tenant, retainer, or follower any one who had been 
convicted or seriously charged with crime. 

The Pro\dnce grew in wealth and importance and 
its social features became known as distinctive and 
unique even in that day. There were twelve counties ; 
each a little province of itself and as the Lords of the 
Manor gave attention to agriculture, education and 
social affairs, the attendants and tenants labored, 
builded, planted and reaped ; developing the new coun- 
try much after the manner outlined in the dreams of 
the first Lord of the Province and aiming at his ideals. 
Just as you trace the Puritan strain in New England, 
the Huguenot in New York, the Quaker element in 
Pennsylvania, the Cavalier tone in Virginia and the 
Carolinas, so you find the ideals and traditions of the 
Irish predominating in old Maryland. And these tra- 
ditions were of the most lofty that human nature, as 
then developed, was capable of enjoying. These con- 
ditions produced such a state of government and 
secured to all such liberty and happiness as seemed 
well suited to that day and that stage of civilization. 



THE PROVINCE OF MARYLAND 31 

There was not in the mind of any, an ideal of democracy 
as developed later. The condition was pleasing, aris- 
tocratic and satisfying; and was well in advance of 
anything that civilization had so far produced. It 
seemed at that day a satisfactory and progressive state 
of society. Slavery had not yet thrown its shadow on 
the country; but, when it came later to Maryland as 
it came to the other colonies, it warped the conditions 
and greatly changed the trend of events. But at this 
time, it had not yet appeared and the settlers were 
happy in their own ways. Of the people themselves 
who made up this settlement one of Maryland's his- 
torians says in reply to certain criticisms of their nar- 
rowness, '' in the sincerity of their friendships, in the 
depth of their religious conviction, in the strength of 
their domestic affections and in general reverence for 
things sacred, our forefathers far outshine the men 
of this generation with all its pomp and pride of 
civilization." 

It was to such a people and under such social, 
political and religious conditions that the first Charles 
Carroll came from Kings County, Ireland, in 1688, 
with the hope of peacefully enjoying his religion, his 
liberty and his wealth. 



CHAPTER II 

THE FIRST CHARLES CARROLL IN THE PROVINCE 
OF MARYLAND 

Charles Carroll, the son of Daniel, after his admis- 
sion to the Bar, settled in London and soon became the 
secretary of Lord Powis who had become an earnest 
friend of Lord Baltimore and deeply interested in the 
Maryland project. Charles Carroll, the yomig lawyer 
of the Inner Temple and secretary to Lord Powis, had 
not yet come into his estates. His father still lived 
and occupied the family heritage in Litterlouna in 
Kings County, Ireland, and to this home Charles 
doubtless went frequently to discuss his future with 
his father and the other members of the family. It 
was a fine estate overlooking the valley where the beau- 
tiful Shannon flows, and not *' a long way from Tip- 
perary " for that county of cherry songs and beauti- 
ful traditions was just across the river, and the 'Car- 
rolls of old had spread all over the region. The home 
where Daniel Carroll resided and where the first 
Charles of our line was born is still standing, or was 
not many years ago. It passed into the hands of a 
family named Parsons and about 1820 Mr. Parsons 
had the old mansion rebuilt and the estates put in the 
best of order in all respects. 

During the year 1826 the granddaughter of Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton, who had married the Duke of 
Wellesley, lately made the Viceroy of Ireland, visited 
the place and was entertained in the old home. It was 
on the occasion of this visit that the Bishop of London 
in a speech of welcome, said ' ' to the land from which 
your ancestors fled as exiles, you return to reign a 
Queen. ' ' 

2 [33] 



34 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

But things in Kings County were made very unpleas- 
ant for the Carrolls in 1687 on account of the persecu- 
tion of Catholics at that time; and the secretary to 
Lord Powis began to make plans for coming to the 
Province. In these ideas he was encouraged by Lord 
Baltimore who had become impressed with the ability 
and versatility of the young man; as well by Lord 
Powis who saw for him a future in Maryland which 
under all the circumstances he could not hope for in 
London or in Ireland. He was doubtless encouraged in 
this by his father who began disposing of some prop- 
erties with the idea of being able to see his son well 
settled in the new world. Charles was a younger son 
and, of course, the bulk of the estate would go to the 
older brother. 

Having resigned his position with Lord Powis, and 
with a commission in hand as an officer of the new 
government of Maryland, he arrived in the Province 
October 1, 1688. He began work as agent of the Lord 
Proprietor, but before a year had elapsed, one of those 
revolutions came which upset the power of the Lord 
Proprietor and placed the government more directly 
under the control of the Crown. But he had already 
demonstrated his ability and usefulness and while he 
continued his work nominally as merely the agent and 
rent collector for Lord Baltimore, he served the in- 
terest of the Lord Proprietor by keeping in close touch 
and in most respects working harmoniously with the 
people who had come into power as his enemies. 

Incidentally he was once or twice arrested for 
** ridiculing the home government " though he does 
not seem to have taken the matter at all seriously at 
first. But as they wouldn't accept bail, he finally got 
much provoked at his fix. 

Though the Lord Proprietor had technically lost the 



THE FIRST CHARLES CARROLL 35 

Province, he liad not lost his property nor his influence ; 
and he continued to control much of the doings of the 
Assembly. He was always diplomatic and frequently 
had his own way by seeming to let the Council and 
Assembly have theirs. 

At first and for a good while, Lord Baltimore was 
able to keep clear of the political strife of England, 
and though residing nearly all the time in London he 
was able to steer the colonists clear of the trouble that 
surrounded him there. He appointed a Protestant 
Governor when that was practicable and in all things 
displayed the traits of a diplomatic manager. 

The Puritan element grew in strength and power as 
the colony increased in numbers. First there came the 
Puritans of Virginia who had been expelled from that 
colony on account of their religion, and these were 
joined by many of their own faith from New England, 
so that by the year 1680, it was found that the 
Protestants outnumbered the Catholics about thirty 
to one. One of the most incomprehensible traits of 
human nature is that people who have suffered 
religious persecution promptly become persecutors as 
soon as they get the upper hand. So it proved in 
Maryland. 

Mr. Sharf in his excellent and unprejudiced history 
of the colony and state says : 

Assuredly the founders of Maryland were in 
advance of their times, and soared far above the 
spirit which animated the government of the 
mother country and the sister colonies. 

It was a bigoted and persecuting age and Catho- 
lics and Protestants alike were guilty of intoler- 
ance and persecution. But let honor be given 
where it is due ; and the honor of passing the act 
concerning religion " belongs to an assembly, the 
majority of whom were Roman Catholics." 



36 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

That act provided for the fullest protection to all in 
the enjoyment of religious liberty and secured all 
rights alike to Catholic and Protestant. 

McMahon also an unquestioned authority, says: 

So far as religion was concerned the course of 
the laws and their administration was one of entire 
neutrality. The great object seems to have been 
to preserve that religious freedom, which had 
been identified with the colony. The Proprietor 
is nowhere charged by the Assembly with any act 
or intention, aiming either at the establishment of 
his own Church or the injury of the Protestant. 
His principles were averse to everything like 
persecution. 

An Englishman traveling in the Province at that 
time in describing the committee of plantations, says, 
'' though there are thirty Protestants to one Papist, 
between them there is no quarrel." 

Yet notwithstanding the condition of tolerance and 
good feeling that had prevailed it was easy for an 
unprincipled man named Code to stir up what was 
known as the Protestant Rebellion. In fact, it could 
hardly be so called with fairness, because it was really 
a scheme to get the Church of England made the official 
institution of the Province and the Puritan element 
which had suffered persecution readily joined in, and 
became the persecutors. 

Under the proprietary government from its incep- 
tion to its overthrow Maryland was a place of refuge 
to all who sought shelter from civil or religious 
oppression. The Catholic here found peace and 
security and the non-conformist Protestant came 
hither, to enjoy under a Catholic ruler the toleration 
denied him by his Protestant brethren. Says a writer 
of Maryland history : 



THE FIRST CHARLES CARROLL 37 

It has become the fashion of New England and 
northern writers to sneer at the history of tolera- 
tion in Maryland, to dispute the facts attending 
its establishment and to deny that it was a volun- 
tary proceeding upon the part of the Lords Pro- 
prietor and their subjects, the colonists of Mary- 
land. But they cannot deny the practical work- 
ings of toleration as exemplified in the population 
of the colony which very early became a harbor 
of refuge for the oppressed of all lands and of 
every creed. The New England Puritan sat down 
here by the side of the Catholic, Cavalier and 
planter; the Quaker escaped to Maryland soil 
where he could feel secure from the lash and the 
pillory, the cart's tail and the ear cropper. 

But in spite of the condition that had prevailed, and 
in spite of the feeling of security that all had enjoyed, 
it wasn't hard to stir up a spirit of rebellion against 
the Lord Proprietor and the Catholics. 

These were days of persecution and intolerance and 
the doings of people of that era must not be judged 
by the conditions and standards of the present. 

One Code, an unprincipled man, was the chief inciter 
and leader of the rebellion. He had been both Catholic 
and Protestant and had been discarded by each in turn. 
Now he raised the cry of ' ' no popery ' ' and the people 
who had been the beneficiaries of the beneficent rule of 
the Lord Proprietor and his Assembly rallied to Code 
and soon had possession of the government. The story 
of their doings is well told in the letter here given. 
This letter is interesting both because of what it says 
and because it is the first record we have made by a 
member of the Carroll family: 

St. Mary, September the 25th, 1689. 
My most hon'd Lord : 

I believe your Lordship has ere now had some 
intelligence either by Captain Burneham or John- 



38 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

son, of the strange rebellion your ungratefull 
people of this your Lordship's Province have 
involved themselves in, moved by the wicked insti- 
gations of Code, Jowles, Blackston, Chiseldon, 
Parson Thurling, and several others to that de- 
gree, that they quite unhinged your Lordship's 
Government; and (as if there were noe Justice 
to be had but such as they please to distribute, 
or as if the whole body of the lawes were to be 
annulled by their wild fancyes,) have taken upon 
themselves to declare your Lordship's charter 
forfeited, as your Lordship may see by their 
malitious declarcion, (which the bearer will shew 
your Lordship,) they have further taken upon 
themselves to give commissions to Sheriffs and 
Justices of their own stamp, and constitute other 
officers, both civill and military, utterly excluding 
not onely all Roman Catholiques from bearing any 
office whatsoever contray to any express act of as- 
sembly, but allsoe all protestants that refuse to 
joyne with them in their irregularities, imprison- 
ing such of them as declare against their illegall 
proceedings, and arbitrarily threatening to hang 
anyman that takes upon him to justifie your Lord- 
ship's right; they have assumed the power of 
calling an assembly, the Election of which was in 
most Countyes awed by their souldiers, one 
Countye disowned their power, and would chuse 
noe members, but in fine they have packed up an 
assembly after the most irregular manner that 
ever was knowne wherein they have layd downe 
the methods of their future conduct, but is as yet 
kept private, but am informed that your Lordship 
shall speedily have sent you a copy of their 
journall. 

But now it is that neither Catholique nor honest 
protestant can well call his life or Estate his owne, 
and if your Lordship, according to your wonted 
care and tenderness of your people, by a speedy 
application and true representation to his Majesty 
of these most inhuman actions doe not procure 



THE FIRST CHARLES CARROLL 39 

some orders whereby to allay their fury a little, 
all your friends here will be reduced to a miser- 
able condition, for dayly their Cattle are killed, 
their horses prest, and all the injury imaginable 
done to them, and to noe other. Certainly your 
Lordship's Charter is not such a trifle as to be 
annulled by the bare allegations of such profli- 
gate wretches and men of scandalous lives, as 
Code, Thurling, Jowles and such fooles, as they 
have poysoned by the most absurd lyes that ever 
were invented. If the King thinks that your Lord- 
ship or your Deputy Governors have done any 
thing that may render your Charter forfeited, his 
Majesty and his Councill know the way of trying 
it is a quo warranto, which way of proceeding 
(as I understand) is not much favored by the 
King or parliament, much less I believe will they 
approve of such unheard of actions as were com- 
mitted your Lordship, and Government by these 
evill sperritts without commission or order from 
any superior power, whereby they have not onely 
rebell'd against your Lordship, but allsoe com- 
mitted high treason in takeing up armes as they 
have done without warrant from his Majesty or 
your Lordship. I fear I have been too tedious 
upon this ungrateful Subject, yet could enlarge 
much now; and would but that the bearer can 
informe your Lordship to the full much better 
than I can, he haveing been noe small Sharer in 
the general calamity, whereof likewise I had my 
parte mingled with a hard seasoning of which I 
am now, thank God, allmost recovered. 

I believe an act of indemnity, with a few excep- 
tions of the most notorious transgressors, would 
prove a great means to reduce the people to 
their obedience, tho' the heads of them are soe 
arrogant as to declare that in case the King should 
send orders not to their likeing, they would not 
obey them, and a deal of such stuff ; the Coll. will 
informe your Lordship at large ; therefore will at 
present conclude with my hearty prayers that your 
Lordship may meet with noe difficultye in com- 



40 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

poseing these matters, as allsoe with a full assur- 
ance that I allwayes shall strive in the station I 
am in to reserve in some measure the name of, 
My Lord. 

Your Lordship's most humble and most faith- 
full servant, 

CHARLES CARROLL. 

Addressed : — For the Right Honorable the Lord 
Baltimore, at his home in Bloomsbery Square in 
London. 



CHAPTER III 

DOWNFALL OF THE PROPRIETORY GOVERNMENT 
OF MARYLAND 

The condition of things in the colony is pretty well 
described by Charles Carroll in the letter to Lord 
Baltimore, given in the previous chapter. But with 
the exception of a little friction now and then and the 
occasional outbursts natural to a high spirited young 
man, he got along well in spite of the changed condi- 
tion brought about by the rebellion. Code who led 
the revolt was a worthless and unprincipled fellow; 
but the influence of the old world and the prejudices 
of those in the Province were enough to give him the 
support w^hich his want of character and principle 
would have denied him under other conditions. The 
Assembly which Code was supposed to control denied 
him a seat because he had formerly been a minister. 
And today no priest or preacher is eligible to a seat 
in the Maryland legislature. 

But Charles Carroll managed to become influential ' 
with the people in spite of their prejudices against his 
religion; and as the representative of the Lord Pro- 
prietor, whose property rights were all preserved, he 
made himself useful as well as busy. 

His thoughts soon turned to other matters than poli- 
tics and religion and he married Martha, the daughter 
of Anthony Underwood, a wealthy and influential citi- 
zen, and the Lord of Underwood 's Choice, a fine estate 
not far from St. Mary's, which its master acquired 
some five years before the arrival of Mr. Carroll from 
Europe. Underwood's Choice was one of the great 
estates located in the vicinity of the capital of the 
Province before its removal to Annapolis, the new seat 

[41] 



42 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

of government. And though the political centre swung 
to the new capital the social centre long remained at 
the St. Mary's region. 

One child was born of this union; but child and 
wife died within a little more than a year after the 
marriage. 

Four years after the loss of his first wife, Charles 
Carroll married Mary, the daughter of Henry Darnall, 
of Portland Manor, near St. Mary's. His association 
with Col. Darnall had been close and confidential from 
the first. The young immigrant brought letters to 
Col. Darnall from the Lord Proprietor and his instruc- 
tions were to work harmoniously with this influential 
citizen. When Charles Carroll presented his letters of 
introduction to the Lord of Portland Manor, the 
daughter could have been not more than eleven years 
old, as she was not quite sixteen at the time of her mar- 
riage. But the acquaintance was evidently close and 
cordial from the first. The mother of Mary Darnall 
was, when married to Col. Darnall, the widow of Major 
Thos. Brooke of Brookfield. 

This marriage seems to have been a happy one and 
most successful in all respects. It united the families 
of the Lord Proprietor's two most influential friends 
and promoted the interest of these families as well as 
that of their patron in England. During twenty years 
following, ten children were born of whom three sons 
and two daughters grew to manhood and womanhood. 
Henry Carroll, born Jan. 26, 1697, was the eldest. 
He was educated at St. Omers, finished his studies in 
England and was entered as a barrister at Temple Inn, 
Sept. 16, 1718. He died at sea April 10, 1719, on his 
way back to Maryland. Charles Carroll, the second 
son, who became the heir, was born April 2, 1702. He 
was the father of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Daniel 
Carroll, the youngest son, was born Oct. 30, 1707. 



THE PROPRIETORY GOVERNMENT 43 

Charles Carroll became possessed of large landed 
estates in the most desirable localities of the Province. 
These lands were granted him by the Lord Proprietor 
and purchased from the Indians whenever occupied by 
them. The Lords Proprietor from the first to the fifth 
Lord Baltimore strongly impressed on all his people 
that the Indians must be treated with fairness and 
friendliness. Whenever lands were occupied by 
Indians, the purchase must be made from them and on 
terms which they deemed satisfactory after a full 
understanding of the matter. To Mr. Carroll's duties 
as attorney and collector for the Lord Proprietor, were 
added the further task of Surveyor General and Naval 
Officer. He had authority to appoint surveyors and to 
remove inefficient ones. This doubtless gave him great 
advantage in acquiring a knowledge of the location, 
quality and desirability of the lands open for settle- 
ment. He was also well supplied with funds for invest- 
ment as his father retaining the landed estates in Ire- 
land for the eldest son had sent Charles to the new 
world well equipped with ready cash and good credit. 
Besides this his revenue for work done for the Lords 
Proprietor and the Province must have netted him a 
very considerable income. This constantly invested in 
the fine lands of the Province, furnished the basis of 
the great Carroll fortune of the future. Charles Car- 
roll, the settler, visited England in the year 1715. It 
isn't clearly shown, but the presumption is strong that 
he was called to Europe at this time by the death of 
his father in Ireland. No previous mention is made of 
the death of his father and some business matters 
which he transacted at that time indicate that he was 
aiding in settling up the affairs of his father's estate. 

During his stay in London the Lord Proprietor died 
and Charles Carroll acted as the attorney in the man- 
agement of Lady Baltimore's affairs both in London 
and in the Province. 



44 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

There was little or no cessation of the warfare on 
Catholics in Maryland and a man like Charles Carroll 
had to use great diplomacy as well as firmness in 
dealing with the situation. 

From 1704 to 1718 several ferocious anti-Catholic 
acts were passed. A reward of £100 was offered to any 
informer who ' ' should apprehend and take ' ' a priest 
and convict him of saying Mass, and the penalty 
of a priest convicted under this act was perpetual 
imprisonment. 

Any Catholic found keeping a school or taking any 
child to educate was to spend the rest of his life in 
prison. No Catholic should be permitted to send his 
child abroad to be educated, nor should a Catholic be 
allowed to purchase real estate ; and those holding any 
property, were to pay double taxes. 

But in nearly all these acts, Mr. Carroll was 
exempted from their penalties on account of the high 
regard the authorities had for him. 

These things, however, were in no way denied or 
excused by Protestants of a later generation. They 
were simply a part of the times and of conditions which 
it is impossible to understand at this day. 

It was not really a Protestant rebellion that carried 
down the Lord Proprietor. It was a Church of 
England movement which was part of the politics of 
that day. They made the Church of England the estab- 
lished church, which was the main object of the fight. 
Mr. Hawkes, a Protestant minister, writing of it says : 
** No wonder such a religious establishment as that of 
Maryland was odious to so many people. Their dislike 
of it is evidence of their virtue " and another Church 
of England clergyman writes: " The church which 
drove Catholicism to the wall was perhaps as contempt- 
ible an ecclesiastic body as history can show." 

It was politics rather than religion and pretty low 



THE PROPRIETORY GOVERNMENT 45 

down politics at that, when measured by the standards 
of the present day. 

The two sons, Charles and Daniel, were sent to 
France to be educated when they were old enough to 
go. They were still at school when Henry, the eldest 
brother, died on his way home. The news of this death 
was given them in a letter from their father dated July 
7, 1719. Previous to the death of his son Henry, Mr. 
Carroll had made his will leaving the three boys as 
executors and placing the management of his estates 
in the hands of Henry Darnall, Benjamin James Car- 
roll, Charles Carroll and Daniel Carroll. The first 
one was his brother-in-law and the other three were 
his cousins. The accession of Benedict Leonard Cal- 
vert in 1715 to the titles of his father, placed the 
government back in the hands of the Lord Proprietor 
as Benedict had become a Protestant and could take 
the test oath necessary for the reinstatement of the 
old government. 

The first Carroll to come over is generally spoken 
of as Charles Carroll, the immigrant, his son as 
Charles Carroll of Annapolis and the signer as Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton ; And they will be so designated 
hereafter in this work. Mr. Carroll the immigrant was 
kept actively engaged in his practice after his return 
from England and during the proprietorship of Bene- 
dict, the successor of Charles. We find him appear- 
ing for the Province in criminal cases ; and he was one 
of a committee of six to inspect the Provincial records 
and oversee their transfer to Annapolis when the capi- 
tal was moved from St. Mary's to the new seat of 
government. He was painstaking and thorough, for 
we find in many cases he would not give an opinion 
offhand to the Assembly, whereas others were quite 
ready to do so. It seemed to be the custom for the 



46 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Assembly to call before them a group of leading law- 
yers for advice when a perplexing question arose. Mr. 
Carroll was always called in such cases, and was the 
most deliberate and painstaking of the group. Gov- 
ernor Nicholson seems to have been guided by the 
advice and opinion of Mr. Carroll in most of his acts 
where a question of law was involved. 

Mr. Charles Carroll was kept busy in his law prac- 
tice as well as with his private affairs now grown large 
by reason of his extensive real estate holdings. In 
1698 he represented the counties of Talbot and Somer- 
set before the Council in the matter of some complaints 
against the authorities of these counties. In Talbot, 
then spelled '' Talbott " the charge was that the court 
house cost a considerable sum of tobb (tobacco) and 
the keeping of an ordinary in it cannot be allowed. 
The respondents through Mr. Carroll said the county 
was at much expense and needed the rental. The 
Council feared carousing in an ordinary would endan- 
ger the records. An arrangement satisfactory all 
around was made. Mr. Carroll agreed that the county 
would put up a small building at a distance from the 
court house and that this building should hold the 
records and have no chimney. Somerset was also able 
to satisfy the council. 

When the government was settled in Annapolis, Mr. 
Carroll asked the appointment of Henry Denton as 
Naval Officer of the port and on the appointment being 
made went on his bond for the faithful performance of 
the duties of the post. Following this we find him fre- 
quently acting as counsel in the important shipping 
cases. By this time Mr. Carroll had secured real estate 
as follows : 

Carroll's Forest 500 acres in Prince George's 
County. 
Ely O 'Carroll 1,000 acres in Baltimore County. 
Litterlouna, 400 acres in Baltimore County. 



THE PROPRIETORY GOVER^^MENT 47 

New Year's gift 1,300 acres at Elk Ridge. 
Clynmalyna, 3,000 acres. 

Doughoregan Manor, 10,000 acres in Baltimore, 
now Howard County. 

He also owned lands on the eastern shore in Kent 
and Somerset Counties and on the eastern shore of 
Virginia. 

Enfield Chase in Prince George's County and other 
additions to his properties brought the estate of 
Charles Carroll, the immigrant, up to the princely 
holding of 60,000 acres. And these were in the hands 
of a man with the money, the experience and the 
brains to make the most of them. In the number of 
acres this corresponds fairly well with the holdings 
of Charles Carroll of Carrollton sixty years after- 
ward. But the properties were not altogether the 
same. 

Charles Carroll, the immigrant, was not slow to see 
that the change of the capital from St. Mary's to Anne 
Arundel County would cause a development in that sec- 
tion which would add greatly to land values. He was 
also quick to recognize the natural advantages of the 
section contiguous to the Patapsco river. Appreciating 
this, he marked the Doughoregan Manor tract as the 
future home of the family and built the Manor House 
which still stands. The building was begun soon after 
Mr. Carroll's return from England and Ireland and 
was very likely from plans secured by him while 
abroad. Ths building is a beautiful specimen of 
colonial architecture, two stories in height with wings 
that make it three hundred feet in length. A wide 
paneled hall leads to the library on the right where 
many generations of Carrolls have entertained their 
friends and transacted important business. It was in 
this room that Charles Carroll of Carrollton gathered 



48 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

his family and some intimate friends to receive the 
committee from Washington that brought the two 
copies of the Declaration of Independence that were 
presented to him fifty years after the signing of that 
great document. 

Charles Carroll died July 20, 1720, and his son 
Charles Carroll, remained abroad finishing his educa- 
tion and equipping himself for the duties ahead of him 
till 1723 when he returned in his twenty-first year to 
take charge of his estates. The property had been well 
managed by Mr. James Carroll, a cousin, during the 
three years after his father's death. Daniel Carroll, 
his younger brother, remained in Europe another year. 
Mr. Carroll found Annapolis much changed by the 
years he had been away. The new capital had been 
built near the mouth of the Severon river where the 
Puritans had settled on being driven out of Virginia 
because they would not conform to the teachings of the 
Church of England. It had been chartered as a city in 
1708 and made a port of entry soon after. Mr. Carroll 
returned to this city where his father had been a most 
active citizen, and to find that his estate was one of the 
most valuable properties in the Province. Additions 
had been made to the city, new buildings, public and 
private, had been erected, forms of government had 
been made more perfect and all in all, the land he had 
left seemed transformed into a new region on his 
return. 



CHAPTER IV 

CHARLES CARROLL OF ANNAPOLIS IN THE PROV- 
INCE OF MARYLAND 

The second Charles Carroll, who having completed 
his education permanently took up his residence in 
Maryland in 1723, was generally known as Charles 
Carroll of Annapolis. He was the father of the signer 
and was a man of influence from the time of his return 
to the home of his childhood. Doughoregon Manor had 
been built and was the family seat of the CarroUs. But 
they also had a home in the new city of Annapolis, 
which by this time had become a place of considerable 
importance. 

James Carroll, who as agent of the executors had 
been in active control after the death of the first 
Charles Carroll, lived till 1729 and continued in man- 
agerial work in cooperation with the heir who grad- 
ually assumed the burden and responsibilities; so 
that by the time of the death of his uncle the nephew 
was in touch with the work on all branches of the great 
estate. 

His foresight enabled him to see the natural advan- 
tages of the Patapsco region near which Doughoregon 
was located and he encouraged the idea of this being 
the point for a great metropolis to which the rich lands 
of Maryland would become tributary. 

With this idea in view, in the year of 1729, Mr. 
Carroll, in connection with some other land owners 
secured the passage of " an act for erecting a town on 
the north side of Patapsco, in Baltimore County, and 
for laying out into lots sixty acres of land in and about 
the place where one John Flemming now lives." 

[49] 



50 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Flemming was a tenant of Mr. Carroll and resided in 
a house then usually called a Quarter, standing on the 
north bank of Uhler's run, and near General Streck- 
er's home, afterwards on Charles street. Under the 
act an organization was formed for town government, 
and Baltimore was born. Although Mr. Carroll was 
the prime mover and the greatest beneficiary, his name 
nowhere appears in the records. The commissioners 
were appointed for life and were authorized to fill their 
own vacancies and appoint their own clerks. 

The name of the county and city of Baltimore was 
intended as a compliment to the Lord Proprietor 
whose ancestor received his title of Baron from a sea- 
port of that name in the County of Cork, Ireland. The 
first choice of a lot was reserved to the owner of the 
land and no one was to take more than one lot during 
the first four months. Mr. Carroll selected his lot and 
in December of the same year in behalf of himself and 
his brother, Daniel, he sold the entire tract to the com- 
missioners who in turn sold it to actual settlers. The 
broad business liberality of the CarroUs was praised 
and Baltimore boomed. The beginning of the town 
was the point now designated as the corner of Pratt 
and Light streets. Mr. Carroll took the lot on Calvert 
street next to the river on the east side of the street 
which was lot 49. At that time Calvert was the only 
street that touched the river and Mr. Carroll's lot soon 
became more valuable than was the whole tract before 
the town was laid out. Among the early settlers came 
the Quaker families of Gorsuch, Giles, Fell, Hopkins, 
Matthews and Taylor. They were from England 
where they had suffered untold persecution and were 
induced to come to the colony on account of their 
acquaintance with, and friendliness for Mr. Carroll. 
All these names became intimately associated with the 
history of Maryland. 



CHARLES CARROLL OF ANNAPOLIS 51 

Mr. Carroll evidently entertained many of the 
advanced ideas of government that we see so con- 
spicuously displayed in his son years afterward, for 
we find him in regard to the county government of his 
county saying: 

Let us not restore the property qualifications 
for the members of the Executive or Legislative 
department; trusting as we can safely, that per- 
sons elected by the people duly qualified, may be 
no less competent to serve the public from a want 
of fortune. 

Charles Carroll of Annapolis married Elizabeth 
Brooke, daughter of Clement Brooke and Jane Sewell. 
The wife was well connected and was distantly related 
to her husband in two or three ways. Her people were 
Catholic landholders, educated and wealthy. One son 
was born and was named Charles, who became Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton, one of the very influential and 
conspicuous figures in colonial and national politics. 
The father lived to see his son achieve great honor as 
a statesman, but the mother died when he was only 
twenty-four years old. 

At ten years of age, young Charles was sent to 
school at Bohemia Manor in Maryland and his cousin, 
John Carroll, afterwards the first Catholic Bishop in 
this country, was his fellow student. Bohemia Manor 
was a vast estate in Cecil County and the Jesuit order 
had there founded a school. This school was broader 
in its scope than most schools of that day and sought to 
lay the foundation of a practical and useful education. 
They taught many things to which little attention was 
given in most institutions of the time. Bookkeeping, 
the rudiments of surveying and navigation, as well as 
the classics were in the course of study. 

Father Mansell who founded the school, was doubt- 



52 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

less impressed by the results of a practical education 
as seen in Augustus Herman and his descendants, the 
wealthy owners of the great Bohemian and Herman 
estates around him. These estates were not only the 
richest on the eastern shore but among the most val- 
uable in the whole country, and all the owners were 
men who had inherited the hard common sense of 
Augustus Herman the founder, and had been given 
what Augustus deemed good educations. One of these 
men could survey, navigate a ship, keep books or pre- 
pare and try a case at law. The great knowledge and 
ability of the men were as conspicuous as the vastness 
of the tracts of land they owned. The fertility of his 
resources is seen in the case of the original Herman 
who is put down as the inventor of naturalization. 
When he applied to the Lord Proprietor for a grant of 
land he found that he was barred by reason of his 
being a subject under control of Governor Stuyvesant 
of New York. But he said " I will fix that " and he 
prepared a set of papers in which he renounced every 
other allegiance and swore to become and be a faithful 
citizen of the Province of Maryland. This declaration 
was accepted in lieu of length of residence ; and so far 
as known this is the first naturalization case of this 
or any other country. 

And though years had elapsed the impress made by 
the hard common sense of Augustus Herman was still 
felt. 

Father Mansell's school was a great success and to 
it came the sons of rich men, mostly Catholics from all 
parts of the Province and in fact, from all parts of the 
country. After remaining a little over a year in the 
school at Bohemia Manor, the two Carrolls returned 
to their homes preparatory to being sent abroad to 
continue their education. 



CHARLES CARROLL OF ANNAPOLIS 53 

Of course, they would go to St. Omers. That was the 
institution of their fathers and it is doubtful if any 
other place was ever considered. So in 1748 the two 
cousins found themselves in St. Omers with which both 
were familiar from frequent descriptions of school life 
there as father found it. 

St. Omer was founded in 1592 and was a school for 
Catholic education of priests and others. St. Omer 
was a town of some 20,000 inhabitants and is only 
twenty-four miles from Calais, and therefore, very 
convenient to England. So, many English Catholics 
of wealth, sent their boys there to be educated. Doubt- 
less other Carrolls had been pupils there before the 
Maryland branch of the family became patrons. 
Father Parsons, an English Jesuit, was the founder 
and the character of the school was kept as much 
English as possible. The Province of Artois in which 
St. Omer is located, was under the jurisdiction of the 
King of Spain, but passed into the hands of the French 
in 1678. The college prospered and, when the two 
Carroll boys arrived in 1748, was the home of Avealthy 
boys of rich Catholic families of all parts of the world. 
There were several from the Province at this time 
besides the Carrolls. 

In 1750 Mr. Carroll devised a scheme for a great 
colonization of Catholics from Maryland to the south- 
west on the territory that now forms the State of 
Arkansas. The unfair and oppressive laws that had 
been enacted by the Assembly and sanctioned by the 
new Lord Proprietor, now a Protestant, formed a con- 
stant source of irritation. The Carrolls themselves 
were not directly sufferers to a great extent. They 
were men of great wealth and high character and were 
usually excepted by name in the enactment of anti- 
Catholic laws, but they chafed under the unfairness 



54 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

and injustice done tlieir less fortunate coreligionists. 
His scheme met ready cooperation and a very large 
number was enrolled. The constant planting of an 
exhausting crop like tobacco had worn down the Mary- 
land soil and the stories of the rich land in the 
Mississippi valley offered their fascinations. 

Mr. Carroll selected a spot on the west side of the 
Arkansas river, commencing at its mouth and running 
a hundred and twenty miles up that river across to the 
Mississippi river, then to the place of beginning, at 
the mouth of the river Arkansas. Today this would be 
the splendid triangle with the Mississippi river as the 
western boundary and Little Rock and Memphis at the 
other two angles. This territory then belonged to the 
King of France with whose minister Mr. Carroll had 
conferred and was encouraged to believe the plan 
could be carried out. 

In the Spring of 1751, Mr. Carroll made a trip 
abroad in answer to several business demands, and to 
make a visit to his son. During this trip he laid the 
matter before the French King who encouraged the 
idea but thought the grant of land asked altogether too 
large. The man from Maryland would not consider 
less, and the matter was left in abeyance and Mr. Car- 
roll returned without having fully accomplished his 
purpose, though he had the promise of a tract ample 
for immediate purposes. 

But his efforts in this direction had the effect of 
causing a relaxation of the offensive laws; and with 
this result achieved the Maryland Catholics were much 
less disposed to go west. The following letter to his 
son, written after Mr. Carroll's return from Europe, 
throws light on the friendly terms that existed between 
the father and son. Though it is not the purpose of 
this work to go very fully into the presentation of 



CHARLES CARROLL OF ANNAPOLIS 55 

correspondence and State papers, this letter is too 
illuminating not to be given: 

Oct. 10th, 1753. 
Dear Charley : — 

I received your several letters of August 30th, 
December 20th, 1752, and March 6th, 1753, which 
are all most welcome to me, and altho' a hurry of 
business prevents my often writing to you, you 
may be assured you are always in my thoughts 
and that I most earnestly wish your happiness. 
As you have no such avocations I desire I may 
often hear from you. Since you have not a good 
dancing-Master, you were in the right to discon- 
tinue learning, but when you can meet with a 
good one you must resume it, for nothing contrib- 
utes more to give a gentleman a graceful and easy 
carriage. You may sometime hence meet with, a 
good painter and then with your mother I shall be 
glad to have your picture in the compass of 15 
inches by 12. 

Your opinion of Europe and the people there 
will be much altered when you return to your 
native country. Fops are the object of contempt 
and ridicule everywhere, but it is from the fine 
gentleman you are to take example. Dear child, 
I long to see you, but I did not send you so far 
only to learn a little Greek and Latin. Wliere 
you are you can only lay a foundation for other 
studies which may hereafter be profitable to your- 
self and useful to your friends. When you have 
gone thro' them the rest of your life will be a 
continued scene of ease and Satisfaction, if you 
keep invariably in the paths of truth and of virtue. 
The husbandman annually repeats the toil of 
dressing, plowing and sowing for his harvest. 
Wlien you have completed higher studies your toil 
will be over, and your harvest will daily and al- 
ways come in. I am very glad to see you are so 
sensible of the advantages of a virtuous educa- 
tion, and that you are resolved to make the best 



56 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

use of it. Mr. Wappeler informs me you are third 
in your school, which gives me great pleasure, and 
as your judgment unfolds itself and ripens, I ex- 
pect to hear of your still rising ; * ' Aut Caesar aut 
NuUus." The ambition to excel in virtue and 
learning is laudable. 

We are still threatened by our Assembly, but I 
hope by the interposition of our friends in London, 
it will not be in their power to hurt us. A con- 
tinual calm in life is no more to be expected than 
on the ocean. 

Pray present my humble services to your 
Master, whose care of and kindness toward you 
deserve greater acknowledgments from me than 
I have in my power to repay. I am under the same 
obligations to Mr. Wappeler and Newton, which, 
pray let them know with my humble service and 
compliments to them. I desire also my compli- 
ments to Mr. Falkner, and am very glad to hear 
he is contented in his station. If you please he 
may be of service to you in arithmetic. Jacky I 
suppose is gone up the hill. Remember me to 
Watty, Mr. Warring and all the Marylandians. 
Your mama, grandma. Aunt Jenny and all your 
friends in general are all well. I hope the books 
got safe to you, and that Cicero's life has in par- 
ticular given you pleasure. 

You entered into the 17th year of your age on 
the 19th of last month, being born the 8th of 
September, 1737, old stile. Your judgment there- 
fore will enable you to enter into the reason of 
the rules and lessons you are learning. Children 
learn like parrots, memory and practice aid them 
chiefly, but men of sense do not content themselves 
with knowing a thing, but make themselves thor- 
oughly acquainted with the reasons on which that 
knowledge is founded. I beg you will carefully 
observe this in your present and future studies. 
Memory may fail you, but when an impression is 
made by reason it will last as long as you retain 
understanding. 

I cannot wish to have a better account of you 



CHARLES CARROLL OF ANNAPOLIS 57 

than what I have from Messrs. Carvall, Wappeler 
and Newton, and I doubt not you will daily merit 
it more and more. If you do it will afford me the 
greatest comfort and satisfaction and increase the 
love I have for you. 
I am, dear Charley, 

Most affectionately your father, 

CHARLES CARROLL. 

To Mr. Charles Carroll, 
at Blandike. 

In 1731 Charles Carroll of Annapolis in connection 
with Dr. Chas. Carroll, father of Chas. Carroll, the 
barrister, founded the Patapsco Iron Works Company 
which made the first successful effort in this region to 
manufacture iron. This must have been a pretty suc- 
cessful effort for Mr. Carroll of Annapolis in the year 
1764 put down his one-fifth interest as being worth 
£10,000. 

Dr. Charles Carroll was very distantly related to 
the Daniel Carroll branch but that they had worked out 
the relationship is shown in the fact they always 
addressed each other as Cousin. 

Dr. Charles Carroll was a Protestant and the two 
working together doubtless could achieve many pur- 
poses that neither could have done if they had worked 
separately. 



CHAPTER V 

STUDENT LIFE AT LE GRAND — LAW AND LOVE IN 
LONDON — AN INTERESTING LETTER 

After about a year and a half at St. Omer, young 
Charles was found fitted for entering the college of 
Louis Le Grand at Paris where he was to spend four 
years in completing his classical education and fitting 
himself for the study of English law, which he was to 
pursue in London. He was doubtless instructed as his 
father before him had been, that his study of the law 
was not for the purpose of enabling him to earn money 
as a practitioner, but to equip him for the burdens of 
handling a great estate and for the responsibilities of 
a public career. For in those days men were educated 
and trained for public life. In the case of Mr. Carroll, 
as well as that of nearly every one associated with him 
in the patriot cause, his education was along lines to 
best fit him for a clear understanding and a forceful 
exposition of the great problems of government with 
which he would have to contend. There was not much 
haphazard in the matter of men getting into great 
public positions. The ones trained for the work were 
the ones that had it in hand, and those best trained 
stood the best chance. There was doubtless another 
strong incentive for work and thorough equipment. 
The Carrolls were Roman Catholics and they had for 
two generations suffered from, and chafed under the 
disadvantage in this regard ; under which they labored. 
To rise above all this and become influential and 
strong, a man must be not only equal to the tasks that 
public life imposed, but he must be so able and 
thorough as to be almost indispensable. It was this 

[59] 



60 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

kind of equipment to which young Charles Carroll was 
aiming. How well he attained it will be shown as his 
career unfolds. 

Letters to and from his father in Maryland showed 
how close in thought and feelings the two were ; though 
so far separated and so seldom able to meet. But the 
letters kept them in touch. 

College life at Le Grand was just as exacting in 
the matter of studies as he had found it at St. Omer ; 
but the attitude of the young man and his studious 
habits enabled him easily to keep at the head of each 
of his classes. The father was always pleased with his 
reports and didn't hesitate to express himself freely 
to that effect. He praised the boy, thanked the mas- 
ters, and encouraged him constantly to put forth his 
best efforts. How helpful and encouraging these let- 
ters from home were, was constantly shown in the later 
life of young Charles. 

Though it is not the purpose to reproduce letters the 
following is so pertinent that it cannot well be omitted. 
It is interesting beyond the matter of being a family 
letter, for it tells of the conflicting claims of England 
and France to part of this continent; and tells the 
story with a clearness and exactness that will make the 
le|;ter most interesting to readers of the present day. 
It is in answer to an inquiry on this matter and is for 
the purpose of enabling the young man to discuss the 
subject intelligently. 

July 26, 1756. 
Dear Charley: — 

I have received the following letters from you 
Dec. 14th, 1755, one without a date wrote as I sup- 
pose about the 10th of last January, and the last 
dated February 27th, 1756. You may be assured 
they were all very welcome to me and your mama. 
I suppose you may buy Locke and Newton in 



STUDENT LIFE AT LE GRAND 61 

Paris, if not desire your cousin Anthony to write 
to Mr. Perkins to send them to you or any other 
books you may want. As war is declared I know 
not how you will get these books. The carriage 
through Holland will amount to more than the 
first cost. If they could be sent to Rouen they 
would b}^ the Seine reach you at little expense. 

Tho ' we are threatened with the introduction of 
the English Penal Laws into this Province, they 
are not yet introduced. But last May a law passed 
here to double tax the lands of all Roman Catho- 
lics. I wrote you the 16th of last September and 
then enclosed one from your mama ; as you do not 
acknowledge the receipt of that letter, I suppose 
your mama's letter miscarried with it. 

I am glad to hear you enjoy your health at 
Paris. I sent your letter to your cousin, Walter 
Hoxton. There was no final decree against Dr. 
Carroll. He died before the cause was ripe for a 
trial, but I hope his son will be obliged in time to 
pay what his father justly owed. All your letters 
give reason to hope my scheme will succeed. I 
have wrote to cousin Anthony to whom I refer 
you on this head, as I refer him to you for what 
follows: You desire to know the origin of our 
American war, and the events that have happened 
in the course of it. I will endeavor to satisfy you 
in as clear and concise a manner as I can. If 
the priority of discovery was only to give a title 
to lands in America, the King of Spain would be 
entitled to all America ; as neither France or Eng- 
land would agree to such a claim each of them 
must found their title to their several dominions 
here in possession. The uncontested possessions 
of the English seem to be from Kennebeki River 
southward to the river Savanna which is the 
northern boundary of our new colony of Georgia. 

The possessions of the French before the Treaty 
of Utrecht were from the Keenebeki to the north- 
ward to include Arcadie, all Nova Scotia, New 
France or Canada, and Louisiana. The first set- 



62 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

tlements of both nations were upon the shores of 
the seas and rivers that wash their several terri- 
tories. As their colonies increased the French 
extended their settlements to the eastward, the 
English theirs to the westward. The settlements 
under the different nations now approaching each 
other the question is how far the English shall 
extend theirs to the westward and the French 
theirs to the eastward. 

The English in many or most of their grants 
extend the western bounds of their colonies to the 
South Sea but may be not with much justice or 
reason, for by this pretension they would not only 
swallow up all the French settlements on the 
Mississippi, but New Mexico which the Spaniards 
will hardly consent to. Nature seems to have 
pointed out other boundaries to the two nations 
which perhaps in the next treaty of peace they 
may establish. The French as settled on St. 
Lawrence and Mississippi, I suppose claim all the 
lands watered by the several rivers and streams 
falling into the said rivers. The English by a 
parity of reason may as justly claim the lands 
lying on the several rivers and streams emptying 
themselves into the Atlantic Ocean. This diver- 
sion of the waters is made by the Apalathean 
Moimtains which take their rise in the point of 
Florida and extend thence to the northward, in- 
clining more or less to the eastward, and this 
chain of mountains as I said before, may perhaps 
be hereafter agreed on as the common boundary 
between the contending powers. 

The dispute about their possessions to the north- 
ward is of a more intricate nature. The French 
were certainly the first settlers not only of 
Canada but of Nova Scotia and Acadie which they 
contend to be two different provinces. The Eng- 
lish on the contrary contend that Nova Scotia 
includes all Acadie. The priority of the French 
possession of the aforesaid countries I believe is 
undisputed, and tho' they were formerly dis- 
turbed in their possession of Nova Scotia, under 



STUDENT LIFE AT LE GRAND 63 

which name I include Acadie, yet by treaties Nova 
Scotia was always restored to them, except by the 
treaty of Utrecht. By the Treaty of Utrecht the 
French ceded all Nova Scotia to England. The 
dispute at present between the two nations is 
about the bounds of Nova Scotia, which the French 
pretend to establish in such a manner as to leave 
out a great part of that province to themselves 
under the names of Acadie and Gaspisie. As far 
as I have read, the English by the Treaty of 
Utrecht, seem to have a right to all Nova Scotia 
and Acadia, but as provinces and states seldom 
think themselves bound by treaties which unsuc- 
cessful war, or a bad state of affairs, forces them 
to enter into, I imagine that France, seeing the 
importance of Nova Scotia and Acadia, not only 
to their trade and navigation, but to their colony 
of Canada, are now endeavoring to avail them- 
selves of a favorable time and occasion to recover 
by force Nova Scotia and Acadia, which only force 
and necessity wrested from them. 

According ever since the Treaty of Aix-la- 
Chapelle, the French have been encroaching on 
the English in Nova Scotia. They made some 
settlements at St. John's River in the Bay of 
Fundy, or as the French call it Baye Francois; 
they erected forts on the peninsula between Bay 
Vert and Beaubasin. The English last summer 
took these places from the French by forces sent 
from New England, with little loss, and have re- 
moved all the French neutrals in Nova Scotia, 
some say to the number of 12 or 15,000 souls, to 
their different colonies on the continent, where 
they have been treated with more or less humanity. 
It has been the misfortune of 900 and odd of these 
poor people to be sent to Maryland, where they 
have been entirely supported by private charity, 
and the little they can get by their labor, which 
for want of employment has been but a poor re- 
source to them. Many of them would have met 
with verv humane treatment from the Roman 



64 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Catholics here, but a real or pretended jealousy 
inclined this government not to suffer them to live 
with Roman Catholics. I offered the government 
to take and support two families consisting of 
fourteen souls, but was not permitted to do it. 

The case of these poor unhappy people is so 
hard that I wonder it has not been taken notice of 
by some of our political writers in England. They, 
since the Treaty of Utrecht have been permitted 
to enjoy their property and possessions upon tak- 
ing an oath of allegiance to the King of England. 
This oath they say they have never violated, the 
truth whereof seems to be confirmed by the capitu- 
lations of the forts of Beaubasin, by an article 
whereof the neutrals taken in these forts were 
pardoned as being forced by the French under 
the pain of military execution to take up arms. 
However their fidelity was suspected and they 
have been sacrificed to the security of our settle- 
ments in her part of the world. They have neither 
been treated as subjects or enemies; as subjects 
they were entitled to the benefit of our laws, and 
ought to have been tried and found guilty before 
they could be punished, and to punish them all, 
all ought to have been tried and convicted. If 
they are deemed enemies they ought to be treated 
as such and maintained as prisoners of war. But 
no care has been taken here in that respect. 

These poor people for their numbers were per- 
haps the most happy of any on the globe. They 
manufactured all they wore, and their manufac- 
tures were good; they raised in great plenty 
the provisions they consumed ; their inhabitations 
were warm and comfortable; they were all upon 
a level, being all husbandmen, and consequently as 
void of ambition as human nature can be. They 
appear to be very regular and religious, and that 
from principle and a perfect knowledge of their 
duty, which convinces me that they were blessed 
with excellent pastors. But alas, how is their case 
altered. They were at once stripped of every- 
thing but the clothes on their backs; many have 




The drive leadiiu/ to the 'Manor 




Interior of the Maunr H oust 



STUDENT LIFE AT LE GRAND 65 

died in consequence of their sufferings, and the 
survivors see no prospect before them but want 
and misery. 

The first hostilities on the Ohio began in 1754. 
The Virginians attempted to build a fort there, 
which the French prevented, and constructed one 
themselves called Fort DuQuesne. It was upon 
his march to this fort that General Braddock was 
defeated and killed. The victory was as complete 
as could be. We lost at least 800 in the field. The 
greatest part of our train and magazines fell into 
the enemies hands, the rest was destroyed to facili- 
tate our retreat. What adds to our shame is that 
we suffered this disgrace from between three and 
five hundred Indians. This information I had 
from an officer of distinction who I believe knew 
what he said to be fact, and on whose honor and 
veracity I have reason to rely. I hope for the 
honor of the French nation, that Indians were only 
concerned in this action, for the wounded were all 
massacred, an inhumanity which I am confident 
French officers and soldiers would not be guilty of. 

The next action of consequence was between 
the troops under the command of the Generals 
Dieskau and Johnson near the Lake of the Sac- 
rament. The loss of men on either side was very 
inconsiderable ; I believe we lost most, about three 
hundred. We were prevented from attacking Fort 
St. Frederic, as were the French from destroying 
General Shirley's army at Oswego on Lake 
Ontario, by cutting off the communication between 
Albany and that place. In case Dieskau (who is 
still at New York and likely to live) had been 
victorious, Shirley must have surrendered himself, 
his army and Oswego, probably without striking a 
stroke. Albany must also have surrendered, and 
New York perhaps might have been destroyed, 
which will give you a proper idea of the import- 
ance of the lucky stand made by General Johnson, 
whose service has been honorably and bountifully 
rewarded by his Majesty. 



66 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Since that action both Nations seem to act on a 
defensive plan, except that the French by parties 
have now and then surprised small convoys of 
prisoners, &c., going to Oswego. Our naval force 
on Lake Ontario according to our Gazettes, con- 
sists of seven armed scows, brigs, sloops, and 
schooners carrying 22 six pounders, 52 four 
pounders, and 80 swivels, and upwards of 230 
whaleboats each carrying 16 men. I know not 
what vessels the French have there to oppose us. 
Their not attacking Oswego last winter seems to 
point out their weakness. This is all I know of 
the events of the war to the northward of this 
time, except several murders committed by their 
savages. 

From New York southward, since Braddock's 
defeat, the French have only attacked us by their 
Indians, who have (committed) and still continue 
to commit, the most shocking barbarities on our 
back settlers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and 
Virginia; but I find these our sufferings are 
vastly magnified in the English papers. I do not 
believe these provinces have lost at this time, 
killed and captivated, three hundred souls, 200 in 
Pennsylvania, about 25 in Maryland, the rest in 
Virginia. The remotest of my lands have not 
suffered, and I think myself and your mama to 
be in no more danger than you are at Paris, Mary- 
land being in a great measure screened by the 
more advanced settlements of Pennsylvania and 
Virginia. The Indians act as wolves in small 
parties and by surprise, and it is no wonder that 
the British subjects entirely undisciplined, should 
hitherto have suffered, but daily precautions are 
taking for our security, by erecting lines of forts 
on all our frontier which will not only protect us 
but intercept the savages on their retreat, which 
they constantly make as soon as they (paper torn). 
My plantation where you lived has been greatly 
improved. But that and all my other possessions 
I am determined to quit, if I can meet with the 



STUDENT LIFE AT LE GRAND 67 

success I expect from my scheme. I shall remove 
from a settled and a well improved estate, and in 
the scale of which I expect to lose to the value of 
at least L. 10,000 sterling; but to procure ease to 
myself by flying from the pursuits of envy and 
malice, and to procure a good establishment for 
3'ou, I am willing to undergo and struggle with all 
the difficulties and inconveniences attending on a 
new settlement in a new climate. There is but 
one man in the Province whose fortune equals 
mine. Judge from this of the love I bear you, 
but at the same time be persuaded that my affec- 
tion is greatly increased by the most agreeable 
accounts I receive of your pious, prudent and 
regular behavior, of your sweet temper and dis- 
position, of the proficiency and figure you make in 
your studies. 

Other letters to his son following the one given are 
more of a family nature but all show the close fellow- 
ship between father and son. In one of these the 
senior Carroll in acknowledging the son's good wishes 
says: 

' ' My dear Child : I thank you for your good 
wishes ; nothing can happen to me more agreeable 
than a completion of them. However, I beg you 
will be persuaded that in every step of mine relat- 
ing to you, your happiness only has been my aim. 
Make use of the advantages I give you; improve 
your time and in a few years you will clearly see 
the advantages bestowed on you by a provident 
and tender father. ' ' 

He advised his son not to make too general an 
acquaintance. A return of civilities to all, but an 
intimacy not to be contracted with any. He tells the 
boy that it is much easier to make acquaintance than 
to shake off an acquaintance when made. 

Having attained his majority, young Charles was to 



68 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

go to London and spend some time in study and 
society. His father wrote him to be courteous and 
friendly to the Lord Proprietor if he met him but not 
to go out of the way to show any special deference. 
The father evidently hadn't any great regard for a 
man he thought had changed his religion to advance 
his material condition. The Catholics of Maryland 
were still under many restrictions. All but those 
especially exempted had to pay double taxes, could not 
vote and were not permitted to hold office. On one 
occasion the elder Carroll wrote "And all this is a 
province founded by Catholics, with religious liberty 
and toleration for all, as the main feature of its 
government. ' ' 

Fretting somewhat under these conditions, Mr. Car- 
roll on reaching home from a visit to his son in 1759, 
wrote that he still felt like selling the Maryland estates 
and moving to a new country on account of the future 
of the boy. 

In 1760 Mr. Carroll senior wrote to his son that he 
must remain at his studies for fully four years more, 
saying, ' ' you cannot acquire perfect knowledge of the 
law in less." The death of Mary Brooke Carroll, 
mother of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, occurred 
March 12, 1761, while the young man was a student in 
London. She had been ill for more than two years 
and for ten months he had expected each mail to bring 
news of her death. 

Letters between the father and son while the latter 
was a student in London are of the same loving tone 
and the young man tells details of his life in the great 
city and the progress he is making in his studies. The 
father repeats his wish to leave the Province on 
account of the ill treatment of the Catholics and in a 
letter dated July 14, 1760, says, ' ' if I were younger I 



STUDENT LIFE AT LE GRAND 69 

would certainly leave here." He recommends the son 
to learn the art of bookkeeping and also surveying. 
The son tells his father of his work in tracing the 
genealogy of the family and generally of his life and 
activities in London. He visited the House of Com- 
mons frequently and had the opportunity of hearing 
Mr. Pitt and other distinguished men. He tells of one 
visit where he found Mr. Pitt '' for once dull, tedious 
and insipid." 

He makes frequent and interesting mention of his 
studies, explains how he is pursuing the study of law, 
tells that he had acquired a knowledge of bookkeeping 
sufficient for carrying accounts of his own affairs ; and 
for examinations of books kept by others. 

The father tells of the doings at home and especially 
of matters likely to be of most interest to the young 
man. He entered " Nimble," a horse belonging to 
young Charles for the races. Nimble won two heats 
but lost the race. 

In a letter written in April, 1763, Charles Carroll 
of Annapolis begins telling his son to make prepara- 
tions for returning home. He instructs him to look 
around about February, impresses upon him to find a 
substantial seaworthy ship with a neat captain and one 
who lives well. He warns him against getting on a ship 
with '^ servants and fellows " and insists that too 
many cabin passengers will not be found desirable. 
Three or four will be enough for company. He says 
'' be very inquisitive about the age of the ship " and 
adds '' about this time twelve months I shall be as 
impatient as you have been for a long time past." 
He makes a postcript to say ' * I have been offered 100 
pounds for Nimble and have refused it." 

Young Charles w^rote his father about a Miss Baker 
to whom he was paying attention. His father hopes 



70 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

" the young lady may be endowed with all the good 
sense and good nature you say she has." But nothing 
came of the matter, so that Charles Carroll returned to 
find his bride among the ladies of the Province. There 
was some talk of Miss Baker's fortune which was 
small, but this does not seem to have had any bearing 
on the matter. 



CHAPTER VI 

PREPARING FOR HIS RETURN TO THE HOME OF HIS 
CHILDHOOD 

The correspondence between the father and son dur- 
ing the last year of young Charles' life abroad related 
mostly to the preparations for the young man's re- 
turn. The father's letters contained reminders of the 
necessities of the voyage and of the things he should 
bring over. Among these were some good blooded 
stock, books, book cases, house furniture and other 
things which in that day the colonists imported from 
England. Young Charles spoke of a servant but 
hardly had thought that a good one could be induced to 
transport himself. He admits a want of the practical 
side of a law education because he could not find such 
an instructor as seemed desirable. In a letter dated 
September, 1763, Mr. Carroll senior mentions that his 
grandfather was living in 1688. It is thought more 
than probable that he died just previous to the visit 
which Charles, the immigrant, made to London at the 
time of the death of Lord Baltimore. 

About this time Mr. Carroll senior in a letter to the 
young man in London gives a summary of his estate. 
The estimate of value made at that time was as fol- 
lows : 

40,000 acres of land, two seats 
alone containing each upwards 
of 12,000 acres would now sell at 
20 shillings per acre £40,000 

1/5 of iron works with forges, 
150 , teams, carts and 30,000 
acres, a growing estate which 
produces to mv one-fifth annu- 
ally £400 '. 10,000 

[71] 



72 CHAELES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

20 lots and houses in Annapolis . . . £4,000 

285 slaves £30 each 8,550 

Cattle, horses, stock and tools and 

plantations 1,000 

Silver and household plate 600 

Debts outstanding at interest when 

I balanced my books 24,230.97 



£88,380.97 



You must not suppose my annual income to 
equal the interest on the value of my estate. Many 
of my lands are unimproved, but I compute I have 
a clear revenue of at least 1,800 per annum, and 
the value of my estate is annually increasing. 

I propose upon your coming to Maryland to con- 
vey to you my Manor of CarroUton 10,000 acres 
and the addition thereto of 2,700 acres now pro- 
ducing annually £250 sterling, one-half of which is 
let. Also my share of the iron works producing at 
least 400£. 

On my death I am willing to add my Manor of 
Doughoregon 10,000 acres and also 1,425 acres 
called Chance adjacent thereto on which the bulk 
of my negroes are settled. As you are my only 
child you will, of course, have all the residue of 
my estate at my death. Your return to me will be, 
I hope next Fall. 

Some time previous to this, Mr. Jenison, one of the 
Masters, wrote the following letter to Maryland and it 
was doubtless very gratifying to the elder Carroll for 
he endorsed it :• 

''A character of my son: 

By Mr. Jenison his Master." 

Tho ' I am not in a disposition of writing letters, 
having lost this morning the finest young man, in 
every respest, that ever enter 'd the House, you will 
perhaps, afterwards, have the pleasure of assuring 
yourself by experience that I have not exaggerated 



PREPARING FOR HIS RETURN HOME 73 

Charles Carroll's character in the foregoing lines. 
The Captain will be able to give you, I hope, a 
satisfactory account of him. It is very natural I 
should regret the loss of one who during the whole 
time he was under my care, never deserved, on any 
account, a single harsh word, and whose sweet 
temper rendered him equally agreeable both to 
equals and superiors, without ever making him 
degenerate into the mean character of a favorite 
which he always justly despised. His application 
to his Book and Devotions was constant and 
unchangeable, nor could we perceive the least 
difference in his conduct evern after having read 
the news of his destination, which, you know, is 
very usual with young people here. This short 
character I owe to his deserts — prejudice I am 
convinced, has no share in it, as I find the public 
voice confirms my sentiments. Both inclination 
and justice prompt me to say more, yet I rather 
chuse to leave the rest to Captain Carroll, to 
inform you of by word of mouth. 

During his stay in London he made many short trips 
to interesting places in the vicinity. And he made it a 
point as far as possible to go to places not usually 
visited by the traveler. He became much interested in 
the names he found had been transferred to Maryland 
and with which he had been made familiar by letters 
from home, and by the Maryland Gazette of which he 
was a constant reader from the time he went to the 
college in Paris. At St. Omer his masters did not think 
it well for his mind to be diverted by reading the news- 
paper. 

On a visit to Yorkshire he went to see Sherman 
Woods, the scene of Robin Hoods' adventures and 
found himself dining at an inn at Skipton and stopping 
at Easton and Lewes. He wanted to see the River Wye 
because of his familiarity with the name. He found it 
a romantic and picturesque body of water and was 



74 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

interested to encounter the name of Plimhimmon given 
to one of the nearby mountains. Years afterwards 
when the eminent Charles Carroll of Carrollton was 
making the trip up Lake George in New York State he 
remarked to his companions, ^' this reminds me of a 
section of the Wye in England. ' ' 

He took the greatest interest in the history and tra- 
ditions of the rooms and buildings occupied by the 
lawyers and courts. In a letter to his father he seri- 
ously criticised the conditions imposed on a man who 
desired, after his qualification as to learning, to become 
a member of the Temple. The student must obtain 
the certificate of the barristers and in case the middle 
temple, that of a bencher to show he is " aptus habitis, 
et idoneus montris et scientia." On his admission, he 
has the use of the library, may claim a seat in church 
or chapel of the Inn and can have his name set down 
for Chambers. He must then keep commons, by din- 
ing in hall for twelve years, of which there are four 
each year. Before keeping terms, he must also deposit 
100 with the treasurer, to be returned without interest 
when he is called to the bar. No student can be called 
till he is of three years standing and twenty-one years 
old. After he is called he becomes a Barrister. 

The young man thought all this probably well enough 
for one who was expecting to earn his living as a Lon- 
don lawyer, but he couldn't see much in it worth while 
to one who was going to return to America to manage 
estates and enter politics. For notwithstanding all 
his father had told him of the hindrance he would meet 
with on account of his religion he believed a way would 
be opened and that he would be able to take such a 
place in public life as he might be found fitted to 
occupy. 

In London young Charles pretty closely followed his 
father's advice, to treat all with civility but made few 



PREPARING FOR HIS RETURN HOME 75 

intimacies. He belonged to several clubs and visited 
them frequently and met the civilities of the day, mak- 
ing the acquaintance of such as he cared to meet on a 
friendly footing. A young man of education, refine- 
ment and ample means would have no difficulty in 
making acquaintances. As his father intimated there 
would be much greater difficulty in getting rid of the 
undesirable ones. This he fully understood and acted 
accordingly. There were a number of young men from 
Maryland in London at this time completing their 
educations and preparing for professional careers. 
He w^as on friendly terms with all these and some of 
the acquaintances were continued with pleasure and 
advantages after their return to the Province. Lloyd 
Dulany, Edmund Jennings, John Hammond, Philip 
Lee, Wm. Paca and others are mentioned as among the 
Marylandians he frequently met in London. He doubt- 
less met Cecelius Calvert and treated him with becom- 
ing courtesy but didn't make over him. Such a meeting 
was not considered worth mentioning in his corre- 
spondence. 

Finally the time came for his return to America. 
Many and in detail were the preparations he made. 
He bought stock and household articles including books 
for the library and a thousand labels for putting into 
the books. 

Little details are given of his trip over except that 
he followed his father's directions in chosing a ship 
and found the officers and passengers agreeable people. 

There is no record of the fact but there is every rea- 
son to believe that Capt. John Barry afterwards known 
as Commodore Barry was a young officer on the ship 
that brought Charles Carroll home. The CarroUs had 
usually made it a point to travel on the ship, The Two 
Sisters, which was commanded by Captain Carroll, a 
distant relative. This ship made regular trips between 



76 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. 

Annapolis and London and was owned by Mr. Perkins 
a wealthy merchant, who attended to the affairs of the 
Carroll family in London. Many of the young Mary- 
landians studjdng in London made the trips across the 
Atlantic in The Two Sisters. But this ship had gone 
out of commission and Captain Carroll had retired 
before the return of young Charles. This accounts for 
the instructions of the elder Carroll about looking for 
a suitable ship. That the young man found such a one 
is evidenced by the fact of the pleasant and prompt 
voyage he had. 

Nothing is anj^iere said about young Barry being 
on the ship that brought Mr. Carroll home. But they 
were well acquainted previous to Captain Barry's 
deciding to apply to the Marine Board for a command 
in the proposed navy of the United Colonies. Barry's 
home was in Philadelphia which city the Carrolls often 
visited, but as Barry was most of the time at sea there 
was not much chance of their getting acquainted 
there. It is evident that Captain Barry knew him well 
when he went to Annapolis for a talk about the pros- 
pects of a commission in the navy and several cir- 
cumstances make it seem probable that the acquaint- 
ance was made during Mr. Carroll's trip to America. 

Captain Barry sailed in ships that traveled from 
Liverpool to Annapolis and was familiar with the 
Maryland metropolis. That the lifelong acquaintance 
and friendship that existed between the two men began 
when Charles Carroll was returning to America in his 
twenty-seventh year and Barry was the twenty-one 
year old officer of the ship is more than probable. 

On the arrival of young Charles Carroll in Annap- 
olis in 1764, the Manor at Carrollton was fitted up 
with the idea of it becoming the home of young 
Charles ; and from the time of his arrival in this coun- 
try he was Charles Carroll of Carrollton and he always 



PREPARING FOR HIS RETURN HOME 77 

so wrote his name. The blooded stock, the book cases 
and furniture were transported to the Manor at Car- 
rollton but young Charles at first put in most of his 
time in Annapolis where his father maintained a city- 
home. 

Since the above was written a Life of Jack Barry published in 
Hartford, Conn., in 1809, has been discovered. It tells much of 
the adventures of this patriotic sailor not known to readers of the 
present day and not mentioned in any history or encyclopedia. It 
explains the beginning of the acquaintance between Charles Carroll 
of Carrollton and First Mate Barry on Mr. Carroll's voyage 
returning to America when Mr. Carroll was 26 years old and 
Mate BaiTy barely 21. The author of this work has access to a 
copy of this book the property of a prominent man in Brooklyn. 
The owner refuses to sell the Life of Barry but has put it at the 
disposal of the author of this work for literary purposes. 



CHAPTER VII 

RETURNS TO MARYLAND AND BECOMES CHARLES 
CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Charles Carroll carae home an accomplished, edu- 
cated, traveled young man. His father doubtless 
found in him all he had hoped to find; a well poised 
and also a well posted and well read man. Never 
father built more on the possibilities of a son, and 
never son more fully met the fondest hopes of a father. 
He had met men, studied books and visited places. 
He was prepared to associate with the men who were 
dominating public affairs, and to become one of the 
most influential of those dominating spirits. His 
experience and contact with the best minds of Europe 
served to make him self-reliant as well as keen, clear 
headed and assertive.' His father most likely, merely 
hoped that he would turn out to be a prosperous busi- 
ness man, an influential citizen and a high grade Chris- 
tian gentleman. But doubtless the son had aims at 
position, influence and usefulness commensurate with 
his ability and equipment; notwithstanding the dis- 
advantage under which he labored by reason of his 
religion. He meant from the first to make his talents 
so useful that the public would demand and receive the 
best that was in him. 

He came directly to Annapolis where he was met by 
his father. The blooded stock and utensils he had 
brought over were, most of them, sent to the estate 
called Carrollton. This estate his father transferred 
to him with much other property and the young man 
became Charles Carroll of Carrollton. He always 
wrote his name that way from this time on, and the 
stories of his adding " of Carrollton " as an after- 

[79] 



80 CHARLES CABBOLL OF CARROLLTON 

thought had no foundation in fact. He was Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton, and so he always wrote his 
name. His father resided at Doughoregon Manor and 
the younger man at Carrollton, but a house was main- 
tained in Annapolis which under the broad hospitality 
of that day was the joint home of father and son as 
well as the abiding place of any member of the family 
who happened to find it convenient to be in Annapolis. 
Both of the Carrolls spent much of their time in Annap- 
olis, because it was a central point for their business 
affairs, and being the capital of the Province they here 
had the opportunity of frequently meeting the leading 
men of this Province and as well those of other 
colonies, who came here on political or business visits. 

All the odious laws against Catholics were still on 
the books but were less rigorously enforced than for- 
merly. The earnest talk of a wholesale departure of 
Catholics for the French southwest had deeply im- 
pressed itself on the citizens of the Province and life 
for the Catholics had become much more tolerable. 
But the disqualifications from holding office continued, 
though the Carrolls and a few others were excepted in 
the letter as well as the spirit of the law. 

At once he busied himself with the affairs of the 
plantations and devoted his time to devising improved 
methods of industry and to applying the knowledge he 
had gained in his travels. He had picked up some ideas 
in Ireland, some in Wales and some in Holland as well 
as in England and France. He brought much that was 
new and soon became deeply interested in the applica- 
tion of the ideas he had picked up. 

He took great interest in the growth and develop- 
ment of Baltimore which was now a considerable city 
having a population of some eighteen thousand and 
still growing rapidly. Though not a resident or voter 
he had great interest in its affairs. The county seat of 



RETURNS TO MARYLAND 81 

Baltimore County was still at Jappa to the great incon- 
venience of the people ; but about the time of Mr. Car- 
roll's first visit a movement was on foot to build a 
court house and jail in the city and move the county 
seat from Jappa to Baltimore. The lot on Calvert 
street where the monument now stands was secured 
and the court house built on the east end of the lot and 
the jail was erected facing what is now St. Paul's 
street. 

Mr. Fell, a leading citizen of Baltimore, died about 
this time and Charles Carroll of Carrollton represent- 
ing his father attended the greatest funeral the city 
had seen up to that period of its history. Mr. Fell 
owned that part of the city still known as Fells Point 
and did much towards giving the new metropolis its 
first impetus. In 1769 Charles Carroll of Annapolis 
started a subscription to buy the first fire engine and 
Baltimore's first fire company, '* The Mechanical," 
was organized. The important part that fire companies 
played in later years, in the social, economic, political 
and judicial history of Baltimore, only the old Balti- 
morians can tell. The next year Mr. Carroll of Annapo- 
lis donated the lot on Saratoga street and Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton headed the subscription for build- 
ing St. Peters Chapel the first Catholic place of wor- 
ship in Baltimore. It was ten years, however, before 
a regular priest was engaged. But from this time on 
there was less discussions on religious matters between 
Catholics and Protestants, mainly because other ques- 
tions attracted the attention of the people and the 
management of the Church of England in the Province 
had fallen into disrepute. In 1771 Mr. Lemuel Cravath 
of Boston came to the Province as a merchant and 
proved to be a most enterprising man. He soon made 
the acquaintance of ' ' young Mr. Carroll ' ' who cooper- 
ated with him in many successful undertakings. From 



82 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

early life to old age it was a habit of Mr. Carroll to 
find some one skilled in a particular line and to fur- 
nish the money for developing a business. In the 
latter part of his life he said " It is pleasant to reflect 
that I usually backed the right people. The many suc- 
cesses and few failures of our enterprises is evidence 
of this." 

Joseph Rathell attempted to found a circulating 
library in 1770 and Mr. Carroll furnished many books 
which he had brought from Europe. The effort was 
not successful but according to the record " Mr. 
Rathell honorably returned all the books that had been 
entrusted to him." 

Mr. Carroll's first winter in Annapolis was an 
unusually severe one, and winter sports became popu- 
lar. The newspaper tell of his becoming one of a 
'^ merry set of gentlemen who erected a commodious 
tent on the ice, where they diverted themselves with 
dancing reels on skates, serving good dinners and 
divers other amusements." 

In his studies abroad the science of government had 
taken an important place. The books sent him by Mr. 
Perkins from London show this. The writings of 
Locke were just then making their first great impres- 
sion on the minds of thoughtful men and these great 
works with similar books on government, rights of 
man, liberty, etc., were among those he needed and 
used in Ms studies. Though his father believed that 
the doors of a public career were closed to his son, it 
is doubtful if Charles Carroll of Carrollton ever 
admitted the possibility of such a condition. Certainly 
he had admirably equipped himself for an important 
part in the struggle he felt was impending. During the 
last few years he had been surrounded but not 
influenced by the atmosphere of English thought and 
action. His innate love of liberty and justice, his deep 



RETURNS TO MARYLAND 83 

sympathy for a struggling people, and a desire to see 
public wrongs promptly righted, put him fully on the 
side of the colonists in every question that arose. That 
he was heart, soul, mind and body on the side of the 
people and so admirably equipped for the conflict is 
what made him the tremendous instrument for good 
that he afterward proved to be. 

Every one was discussing the stamp act when he 
reached America and he had given full study to all 
phases of it before coming and while on the sea. 

The stamp officer for Maryland, Zacharial Hood, 
was so despised that his residing in the Province was 
made impossible. The people of Annapolis made an 
effigy of Hood, tied it to a cart and whipped it through 
the streets. 

In September Mr. Carroll wrote ' ' should the stamp 
act be enforced by a tyrannical parliament our prop- 
erty, our liberty, our very existence would be at an 
end." On the 30th of the same month he wrote to a 
friend in England : 

To judge from the number of colonists, and the 
spirit they have already shown, and which I hope 
to God will not fail them on the day of trial, twenty 
thousand men would find it difficult to enforce the 
law; or more properly speaking to ram it down 
our throats. Can England, surrounded with pow- 
erful enemies, distracted with intestine factions, 
encumbered, and almost staggering under the 
immense load of debt — little short of one hundred 
and fifty million pounds — send out such a power- 
ful army to deprive a free people, their fellow- 
subjects of their rights and liberties'? If minis- 
terial influence and parliamentary corruption 
should not blush at such a detestable scheme; if 
Parliament, blind to their own interest, and for- 
getting that they are the guardians of sacred lib- 
erty and of our happy constitution, should have 
the impudence to avow this open infraction of 



84 CHAELES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

both; will England, her commerce annihilated by 
the opposition of America, be able to maintain 
those troops'? 

Socially he soon became interested in the doings of 
his family and friends but for a year he thought to 
remain a bachelor. In May, 1766, however, he shows 
a change of heart and in letters to his friends intimates 
that he will be married in June. The object of his 
affection was Miss Rachael Cooke. . The wedding was 
set for the 8tli of July but in June he was taken with 
a fever and was ill for some weeks. The marriage, of 
course, had to be put off. The 10th of November was 
next set for the wedding day. He speaks in tender 
loving terms of Miss Cooke and expected to be mar- 
ried on the date named. But Miss Cooke was next 
taken with fever and on the date set for the wedding 
day was extremely ill. She died on the 25th of Novem- 
ber. Writing a few days after her death, he says, ' ' I 
loved her sincerely and had every reason to believe 
that I was sincerely loved. Judge of my loss and by 
it of what I now feel." He was with her at the time 
of her death. 

His relations with his father were most cordial and 
confidential and continued so all their lives. Some one 
told his friend that the elder Carroll had given him 
£40,000. To this he wrote saying it was not true ; but 
the truth was that the whole fortune of his father was 
at his disposal. 

In about a year he writes to a friend quoting, ' ' hope 
springs eternal in the human heart " and tells of his 
expectation of being married soon. This time it was 
Mary Darnall of the same family and the same name 
as his grandmother who at sixteen won the heart of 
Charles Carroll the immigrant. He thinks her endowed 
with every quality to make him happy in the married 
state. She has, he says, virtue, good sense and good 



RETURNS TO MARYLAND 85 

temper. He intimates that she may be a little too 
young for him but probably recalls that 'his grand- 
father and grandmother of the same names as himself 
and the lady were about the ages of the present pair. 
The greater difference in years was on the side of the 
grandparents. 

On account of some business reasons it was desirable 
to get a law passed in regard to dower and settlements ; 
and waiting for this, the marriage was postponed. He 
mentions that though she has not money, he prefers 
her thus unprovided for, to all the women he had ever 
seen. The marriage settlement was made June 4th, 
1768, and on the following day they were married. The 
Maryland Gazette announces the event as follows: 

On Sunday evening was married at his father 's 
house in his city, Charles Carroll, Jr., to Miss 
Mary Darnall, an agreeable young lady endowed 
with every accomplishment necessary to make the 
connubial state happy. 

His love of his native land had been in no wise 
dimmed by his long residence abroad. In fact he 
seems never to have lost interest, or to have gotten out 
of touch with home affairs. This is wonderful when 
one thinks how far away Europe was in that day and 
how uncertain and irregular correspondence neces- 
sarily was. But he read the newspaper, had an exten- 
sive correspondence, and was duly and fully informed 
of all passing events. So well was he posted, that on 
returning he promptly and thoroughly became one of 
the people of the Province, imbued with all their pride 
and love of the region. He wrote to a friend in 
Europe the year after his arrival : 

The rapid increase of manufactures surpasses 
the expectations of the most sanguine American. 
Even the arts and sciences commence to flourish, 



86 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

and in these, as in arms, the day, I hope, will come 
when America will be superior to all the world. 
Without prejudice or partiality, I do not believe 
the universe can show a finer country — so luxu- 
riant in its soil ; so happy in a healthy climate ; so 
extensively watered by so many navigable rivers ; 
and producing within itself not only all the neces- 
saries, but even most of the superfluities of life. 



CHAPTER VIII 

CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON IN THE CHAR- 
ACTER OF THE " FIRST CITIZEN " 

The spirit of discontent and resistance that per- 
vaded all the colonies in response to the aggressions 
of Great Britain continued to grow stronger in Mary- 
land, This feeling was so general and so pronounced 
that Burke was moved to remark of it " even the 
women think for themselves." 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton was a most interested 
and earnest student of the situation. He attended 
every meeting, discussed conditions calmly with the 
neighbors, talked over matters with his father; and he 
read and digested every item of information that came 
from the other colonies. But he made no speeches, 
wrote no letters over his own signatures, and gave no 
advice in a public way. Just as he had equipped him- 
self most fully in the science of government and with 
a knowledge of the principles on which such science 
is founded ; so he determined to thoroughly understand 
and to be able forcibly to present every jjhase of 
the local difficulties and heavy burdens under which 
the people of this colony were struggling. Therefore, 
he listened, studied, read and watched as well as 
quietly helping in working out the problem of self -pro- 
tection that confronted the people; but he took no 
public part. One of the wealthiest men in the Province 
and prospectively the wealthiest, his every word was 
heard with interest. His influence and power was not 
to be of gradual growth but was to burst upon the 
public with a suddenness as well as an ability and 
force that would sweep everything before it. 

[87] 



88 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Two questions were deeply stirring the Maryland 
Province at that time, aside from the general matters 
that all the colonies were facing. These pertained to 
taxation in a local way by the authorities of the 
Province. One was an increase of the tithes by the 
established church and the other was the excessive, 
and in some cases illegal fees laid by the officers of 
the colony. In the first controversy Mr. Carroll took 
no part. Being a Catholic he thought it in better taste 
to pay his taxes and make no opposition. But the oper- 
ation of excessive fees by the colonial oflQcials he studied 
deeply. The legislative body consisted of the Assem- 
bly selected by the people and the Council appointed 
by the Governor. The Assembly attempted to pass a 
new law reducing these fees. This act was not con- 
curred in by the Council, several of whose members 
were beneficiaries of these exorbitant fees. The old 
law had expired and while the excitement was at its 
highest the Governor dissolved the Assembly, took the 
matter of tithes and fees into his own hands and set- 
tled them by a proclamation. The people generally 
regarded this act as tyrannical and arbitrary in the 
extreme. But it was defended vigorously by the clique 
that had profited by the excessive fees in the past and 
expected to do so in the future. Among these were 
two members of the influential Dulany family, one the 
Attorney General and the other the Commissary Gen- 
eral of the Province. 

The Maryland Gazette published in Annapolis was 
the mouthpiece of all who had anything to say on a 
public question as well as the vehicle of news. Several 
communications had appeared denouncing the course 
of the Governor and his advisors and attracted no 
great notice. But there now appeared a defender of 
the Governor who was evidently a man of great ability, 
experience and learning. His letters were signed 



THE '' FIRST CITIZEN " 89 

Antillon and the first one which appeared January 7, 
1773, attracted general attention. It was cogent, 
classic and most argumentative. It presented the case 
of the Governor in a light that almost staggered his 
opponents. The paper was in the form of a dialogue 
between the " First Citizen " and " Second Citizen " 
who discussed the issues. Each presented his view of the 
case, the First Citizen taking the side of the people and 
the Second Citizen the side of the Governor. The 
learned writer seemed to have won his cause for the 
Second Citizen by making out a case for the Governor 
that he deemed unanswerable. 

Suddenly there appeared a new advocate in the case. 
A letter signed " The First Citizen " answered every 
phase of the question so ably and so lucidly that the 
whole Province was excited, pleased and expectant. 
Who could '' The First Citizen" be? From Prince 
George's to Elk Landing and from Frederick to 
Somerset the question was asked and repeated. Antil- 
lon came back with a reply repeating his old argu- 
ments and infusing no little bitterness into the con- 
troversy. The details or the arguments would be of 
little interest and poorly understood at this late day. 
Then The First Citizen replied again. By this time it 
became known that Antillon was Attorney General 
Daniel Dulany, regarded as the ablest lawyer in the 
Province and as other letters appeared it was found 
out that the First Citizen was Charles Carroll of Car- 
rollton, the learned and quiet young planter who had 
listened so carefully and said so little on public affairs 
during the eight years since his return to the colony. 
The victory, as The First Citizen, was overwhelming 
and was even more so because after the authorship 
became known Mr. Dulany tried to turn the tide by 
taunting Mr. Carroll with his religious beliefs. 



90 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

A historian of that period says ' ' young Mr. Carroll 
participated in the common feelings of indignation 
against the Stamp Act and contributed by his writings 
in opposition to the more subtle but not less dangerous 
taxation of coimnerce." But his discussion with the 
Attorney General as the " First Citizen " was the first 
occasion on which he was brought conspicuously into 
view in public transactions and he had now to deal 
with an able and experienced adversary, with whom 
victory was familiar and from whom defeat was not 
a disgrace. Mr. Dulany was his equal in education, 
his superior in age, experience and established reputa- 
tion; more conversant with the various interests and 
institutions of the colony; more skilled in the pro- 
found researches and practical applications of his pro- 
fession ; and to give these advantages greater force, he 
was a Protestant and amongst the first in office and 
confidence under an exclusive Protestant government 
and amongst a Protestant people. Mr. Carroll was a 
Catholic of the disfranchised class, who, to the joint 
power of such weapons of attack, could oppose only 
the force of his cause, the resolute spirit and the 
acquirements of a cultivated mind; yet with such odds 
against him he entered the contest. In the letters of 
Mr. Dulany is seen the work of a powerful mind, con- 
fident of its own resources, indignant at opposition, 
contemptuous as if from conscious superiority, and yet 
sometimes affecting contempt as the cover under which 
to escape from principles not to be resisted. 

In the letters of The First Citizen Mr. Dulany is 
constantly covered with the character of a prime min- 
ister of the Governor, prompting the measures in con- 
troversy, for his personal interest and aggrandize- 
ment at the expense of the people. 

The letters appeared one in each issue of the paper 
and so important were they regarded that a letter 



THE " FIRST CITIZEN " 91 

occupied nearly the entire space in the paper. They 
appeared in the various issues every two or three 
weeks from January 7 to July 1, 1773. On the date 
last mentioned Mr. Carroll dealt the final blow and the 
controversy was ended with the great Attorney Gen- 
eral completely defeated and the quiet young planter 
as the successful champion of the people and the most 
popular man in the colony. 

While this controversy was on, the elections for 
delegates to the Assembly were held and the results 
showed an overwhelming sentiment against the proc- 
lamation of the Governor and the position of Mr. 
Dulany. The First Citizen was given great credit for 
his aid in bringing about this result. 

At these May elections all over the State the excite- 
ment was unprecedented. The people were already 
wrought up over the general questions that agi- 
tated all the colonies and to these were added the 
special interest in this election by reason of the attempt 
of their own officials to add to their burdens. ' * Down 
with the proclamation," " Bury the proclamation," 
' ' Overboard with the proclamation and all who defend 
it " were the cries in every county of the Province. 

In Baltimore which had now become the most popu- 
lous as well as the wealthiest of the counties, as soon 
as the election was over and the result announced they 
did bury the proclamation; not only figuratively but 
actually. This is the way the Baltimore correspondent 
of the Maryland Gazette tells of the incident : 

On the last day of our election, when the polls 
were closed, and Messrs. Riegely, Deye, Hall and 
Tolley were declared duly elected, a peal of 
applause, in three loud stanzas, burst from the 
multitude. Immediately from the crowd there 
issued a voice, as it were the voice of one raised 



92 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

from the dead, which squeaked '' no proclama- 
tion — hang, burn, bury the proclamation." A 
general murmur arose, which was very properly 
construed as an approbation of the proposal. As 
the new chosen delegates had just received the 
most obliging letters of advice and information by 
express from the great Annapolitan leaders ; and 
that so arduous a business might be conducted, as 
similar to the grand original as it is permitted to 
humble imitators to approach; it was agreed, that 
the ceremony should be conducted, according to 
the directions in the aforesaid letter contained. 
Accordingly a speech, arraigning the proclama- 
tion, was pronounced by the orator of the day ; it 
was resolved to be arbitrary and illegal, and it was 
adjudged to be hanged at the usual place of execu- 
tion. About 4 'clock p. m., the procession, ' ' with 
solemn pace and step profound," began to move 
through the streets towards the gallows, accom- 
panied with all the regalia of military interment 
(the firing of minute guns excepted), that is to 
say, colors properly labelled flying, drums beating, 
and fifes and fiddles playing. When the procession 
had arrived at the gallows, one of those unlucky 
accidents, which sometimes disconcert the best 
laid plans, had like to have spoiled all. In the 
hurry of preparations, they had forgot to bring 
the criminal along with them, or he had made his 
escape in the bustle. A hue and cry was raised, 
messengers were instantly dispatched in search of 
him, and a reward with the thanks of the repre- 
sentatives was offered for apprehending him ; but 
in vain. It was then suspected that perhaps he 
might be concealed in the houses of some of the 
disaffected, a general search was therefore made ; 
but all to no purpose. In this perplexing situation, 
it was observed by the sagacious, that perhaps the 
offender might have audaciously crept into the 
proceedings of the lower house. Upon examina- 
tion this was found to be really the case, and the 
traitor was discovered where he had hid himself 
as the place of greatest safety, near the famous 
resolves themselves. He was instantly torn with 



THE " FIRST CITIZEN " 93 

indignation from his biding place, and dragged 
away to immediate execution. To do him justice, 
he submitted to his fate, with the utmost fairness 
of mind, and with a countenance which seemed to 
laugh to scorn the malice of his enemies, and the 
utmost efforts of his tormentors. After he had 
hung the usual time he was cut down, and, in 
humble imitation of the patriotic men of Fred- 
erick, he was laid with his face turned downwards, 
in token of his immediate descent into hell, from 
whence he originated, and as a means of his never 
rising again into judgment, he was then put into 
a coffin for that purpose provided, and " laid low 
in his narrow house," amidst the approving yells 
of the spectators of all kinds, and of every com- 
plexion and occupation. But a phenomenon omi- 
nous indeed, and truly distressing to "every genuine 
patriot who attended the execution, now presented 
itself to their astonished view. As the malefactor 
descended to the place " where the weary are at 
rest," something was observed to adhere close to 
his back, still showing signs of life, and seeming 
to pursue and persecute him in his grave. It 
could not at first be conceived what being was 
capable of carrying its virulence such lengths, till 
a deep groan ascended from the pit, and a voice 
was heard to say, with lamentations — "Do not, 
we beseech you, bury us alive; we are your 
friends — the resolves of the Lower House." It 
was then discovered, but alas too late, that the 
resolves had stood on the other side of the page 
from whence the proclamation was torn, and by 
the most unfortunate circumstance, were now 
irrecoverably involved in the same undistin- 
guished ruin. Their cries grew fainter and fainter, 
till they were heard no more; and they now 
sleep (peace be to their ashes) undisturbed and 
undisturbing. 

Wlien this transaction, so illustrious in the eyes 
of Maryland, was finished, the same motley group 
which attended the execution, requested the new 
chosen delegates '' to testify their thanks to The 



94 CHARLES CAEROLL OF CARROLLTON 

First Citizen, for his spirited, eloquent and 
patriotic opposition to the proclamation while 
alive. 

Elections in those times took three days and 
there was but one polling place in each county. 
The result of the elections carried such an endorse- 
ment for ' ' The First Citizen ' ' whose identity had 
now becomes known all over the colony that his 
praises were everywhere heard and thanks poured 
in on him in letters, in newspaper communications 
and in person. Anne Arundel County presented 
him with this address : 

''Ann Arundel County, May 26th, 1773. 
'' To the First Citizen. 

' ' Sir — The freemen of Anne Arundel County, 
on the day of our election, gave us in charge to 
return you their thanks, for your nervy and mas- 
tery defense of the constitution, against the late 
illegal, arbitrary and oppressive proclamation ; an 
exertion of prerogative which in a land of freedom 
will not, must not, be endured. Be assured, sir, it 
gives us the sincerest joy to see your merit so gen- 
erally understood and so frankly acknowledged, 
by men who must be confessed to have nothing in 
view but the general good ; and we gladly execute 
the commands of our constituents, in this publicly 
returning you their thanks, for your spirited and 
distinguished opposition to the proclamation. 

'* We are. Sir, with great respect, your most 
obedient servants, 

'' BRICE T. B. WORTHINGTON, 

'' THOMAS JOHNSON, JR., 

" SAMUEL CHASE, 

''JOHN HALL." 

The two delegates elected, William Paca and Mat- 
thew Hammond, also presented him an address of con- 
gratulation and thanks. 

Frederick County in which his Manor of Carrollton 
was located and Baltimore County also sent commit- 
tees of citizens to read addresses of thanks to him. 



THE '' FIRST CITIZEN " 95 

After the election, the endorsement and praise of 
The First Citizen were so general that Attorney Gen- 
eral Dulany relapsed into coarse and vindictive taunts, 
trying to prejudice the people against him on account 
of his religion. But it was too late for this ; Mr. Car- 
roll was The First Citizen in truth and in fact as well 
as in the columns of the newspaper. This extract is 
from the last letter, the one that proved to be the 
knock-out blow to the Attorney General. 

I am as averse to having a religion chammed 
down people's throats, as a proclamation. These 
are my political principles, in which I glory ; prin- 
ciples not hastily taken up to serve a turn, but 
which I have always avowed since I became 
capable of reflection, I bear not the least dislike 
to the Church of England, though I am not within 
her pale, nor indeed to any other church; knaves 
and bigots, of all sects and denominations, I hate 
and I despise. 

*' For modes of faith let zealous bigots fight. 
His can't be wrong, whose life is in the 
right." — Pope. 

Papists are distrusted by the laws, and laid 
under disabilities. They cannot, I know, (ignorant 
as I am), enjoy any place of profit or trust while 
they continue Papists; but do these disabilities 
extend so far as to preclude them from thinking 
and writing on matters merely of a political 
nature? Antillon would make a most excellent 
inquisitor, he has given some striking specimens 
of an arbitrary temper ; the first requisite — He 
will not allow me freedom of thought or speech. 
. . . To what purpose was this threat thrown 
out, of enforcing the penal statutes by proclama- 
tion? Why am I told that my conduct is very 
inconsistent with the situation of one, who " owes 
even the toleration he enjoys to the favor of the 
government? " If, by instilling prejudices into 
the governor, and against certain religionists, and 



96 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

thus bring on a persecution, it will then be known 
whether the toleration I enjoy be due to the favor 
of government or not. That you have talents 
admirably well adapted to stoop to the basest, is 
too true. A particular detail of all your mean and 
dirty tricks would swell this paper (already too 
long) to the size of a volume. I may on some 
future occasion entertain the public with An tillon's 
cheats. 

From this time on, Charles Carroll of Carrollton was 
a leading spirit in the Province of Maryland. He 
attended meetings, made addresses, wrote letters, 
advanced money wherever he could to promote the 
cause of the Colonies and the Province of Maryland in 
particular. 




Interior of the Chapel at Doi((j]tore(jaii Manor 



CHAPTER IX 

RUMBLINGS OF COLONIAL DISCONTENT — THE CASE 
OF THE PEGGY STEWART 

At this time the Province of Maryland was in a 
position entirely different from that of any of the 
other colonies. Frederick, Lord Baltimore, had died 
without legitimate issue. Henry Harford, an illegiti- 
mate son, had set up a claim to the proprietorship 
under a will. This claim was contested by Mrs. Brown- 
ing, the sister of Charles, the father of Frederick. 
This contested case was in the Chancery Court of Lon- 
don and its outcome would not be important if the 
colonies became independent of Great Britain. Gov- 
ernor Eden who caused all the trouble by settling the 
fee bill by a proclamation was a brother-in-law of the 
deceased Lord Baltimore and an executor under Fred- 
erick's will. This general mix up in Maryland compli- 
cated things far beyond the ordinary condition in other 
colonies. Under the charter of Maryland the Crown 
had relinquished the right to tax the Province and this 
raised, in this colony, some entirely new and different 
problems. 

Mr. Carroll understood these questions in all their 
ramifications and understood them as few men in the 
colonies did understand them. He had resided in Lon- 
don so long that he knew the temper of the authorities, 
and knew well all the desperate straits to which they 
would go. He saw that the resistance of the people in 
the end must be by force. Associations had been 
formed in most of the colonies to oppose the import of 
goods from the mother country. All fine clothes were 
dispensed with and men like Mr. Carroll and his father 
appeared dressed in homespun. Tea upon which the 

[97] 
4 



98 CHARLES CAREOLL OF CARROLLTON 

duty had been retained was to be refused and was 
denied the right of being landed at any port in the 
Province. In fact so determined were the colonists not 
to buy from the mother country that trade almost 
ceased. 

The excitement of the Stamp Act had passed all the 
more quietly in Maryland by reason of the over- 
shadowing issues of her own local affairs ; but in 1773 
the duty on tea caused a new irritation and came at a 
time w^hen the people were in a temper to resist. Indig- 
nation meetings were held, communications were sent 
to, and came from the other colonies and men like 
Mr. Carroll plainly saw what the end was sure to be. 

Charles Carroll of CarroUton had been educated on 
lines to fit him especially for the consideration of the 
questions now before the people. His father had inocu- 
lated him with a love of liberty in the sense described 
by the most advanced thinkers of that day. Among 
the books which Perkins of London was directed to 
send him at La Grande, were the works of Hooker, 
Locke, Burlaymaque and Becaria ; the two latter Ital- 
ian writers. Hooker who lived during that period of 
physical and mental activity from 1553 to 1600 was the 
father of the idea that the power of government rests 
alone on the consent of the governed. The others all 
followed up and elaborated this idea and Locke clothed 
it with that brilliancy and attractiveness that set 
Europe ablaze with thoughts of liberty and political 
equality. 

The colonists had been so successful in subduing the 
forces of the new world, and the yoke of Great Britain 
sat so lightly on them, that they were ready and eager 
for the exploitation of a philosophy that guaranteed to 
them entire freedom. They had been growing stronger, 
growing more independent and becoming more united 
in action and purpose during the years that Great 



RUMBLINGS OF COLONIAL DISCONTENT 99 

Britain had been kept too busy with France to pay 
much attention to them. 

Mr. Carroll was able to talk to the people not only 
of their special grievances but he was able to instruct 
them also in the deeper and more subtle science of 
government on which they were to build a new struc- 
ture of liberty, equality and justice. He showed that 
as they had no part in selecting the English Parlia- 
ment, the English Parliament should have no part in 
governing and taxing them. This was a proposition so 
simple that the most illiterate could understand it, and 
cheer for it ; and Mr. Carroll with his great learning 
had the power to a remarkable degree of using simple 
language and making himself clear to the plain people. 

Meetings of indignation and meetings for defense 
and protection were now of frequent occurrence. The 
Non-Importation Association was permanently organ- 
ized and received the support of nearly all citizens; 
and this association was broadened in its scope and 
became the nucleus of the general organization in 
behalf of the patriot cause. Charles Carroll of Car- 
rollton was now a constant worker, and in all things 
had the hearty endorsement and cooperation of his 
father. His advice was sought, given and followed on 
many occasions. He became the warm friend, and 
trusted confident of Samuel Chase, William Paca, John 
Hall and other leaders. 

In November, Charles Carroll of Carrollton was 
named as one of a committee of forty-four to see that 
the resolution of Congress against imports was car- 
ried out. He was also named as one of a committee of 
four on correspondence for the city and county, his 
associates in this work being Samuel Chase, Wm. 
Paca and Thos. Johnson who with the representa- 
tives of the other counties were to take charge of the 
affairs of the Province. It was resolved that the 



100 CHARLES CAitROLL OF CARROLLTON 

members of the previous assembly together with 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton should attend the next 
provincial meeting and have full power to represent the 
city and county. Mr. Carroll attended this convention 
thus starting on that brilliant career that has had few if 
any equals, in our politics. 

In the tangled state of affairs of the Province, grow- 
ing out of the complex question of whether or not there 
was a Lord Proprietor and if so who he was, this con- 
vention became the authoritative body of the colony. 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Chas. Carroll, bar- 
rister, Thomas Johnson and Samuel Chase, repre- 
sented Anne Arundel County in the Council of Safety 
composed of ten leading citizens of the Province which 
met in 1775 in Chestertown on the eastern shore. This 
Council of Safety was the most important body that 
had been constituted in the Province and all looked to 
it for protection and guidance. The spirit of revolt 
was strengthened by every communication from the 
other colonies. The news of the Boston resistance to 
the landing of the taxed tea had met a cordial indorse- 
ment here but in spite of this and of the fact that 
Maryland had driven from her shores three cargoes of 
taxed tea as early as 1769 the brig Peggy Stewart 
arrived Oct. 15, 1774, with 2,320 pounds of tea. Mr. 
Anthony Stewart, a resident of Annapolis, a highly 
respected and wealthy citizen, and a member of the 
Non-Importers Association owned the brig. Mr. Stew- 
art had paid the duty on this small amount of the 
'' detested weed " to prevent detention of the vessel. 
The people were disgusted and felt insulted at this 
act of submission to the will of the English Parliament. 
A public meeting was called, resolutions passed denun- 
ciatory of Mr. Stewart and Williams the consignee. 
Both Mr. Stewart and the two Williams brothers 
apologized and agreed to burn the tea. 



EUMBLINGS OF COLONIAL DISCONTENT 101 

But the indignation was so great that upon the mat- 
ter being referred to Charles Carroll of Carrollton he 
decided that vessel and tea be burned, and with his 
own hand Mr. Stewart set fire to the brig and she 
burned to the water's edge in presence of the infuriated 
crowd. 

Another serious grievance of the colonies was the 
navigation laws. Great Britain had so managed things 
that the colonies had to do their trading with the 
mother country. Why should her colonies enrich the 
merchants of Spain, Holland or Portugal"? She had 
goods to sell and money to spend, so trade with 
England. All the laAvs were framed with this idea in 
mind. The laws provided that no sugar, tobacco, cot- 
ton, indigo, ginger or dye woods should be carried to 
any ports but those of England. These became known 
as the ' ' enumerated articles. ' ' They must be sold only 
to English merchants who in turn would sell to the 
merchants of other countries. In this way England 
was building up her trade with the whole world and 
the colonists felt that she was doing much of it at their 
expense. Articles from Holland, Spain, France or 
other countries than England must not be brought into 
the colonies. Such as were brought had to be smuggled 
in. Smuggling was a very respectable and highly 
profitable line of work as long as it was possible to 
escape the authorities. Charles Carroll of Carrollton 
had studied the odious Navigation Laws and was 
familiar with every phase of their oppressive pro- 
visions. He could explain all their intricacies and 
injustices, and could do it in a way that every mer- 
chant and everv laborer would understand. 



CHAPTER X 

MKETING AND WORK OF THE FHIST CONTINENTAL 
CONGRESS 

In the Spring of 1774 the correspondence among the 
various committees of the colonies resulted in an 
arrangement for holding a Continental Congress. 
Each colony was to send representatives; just how 
many were to be sent and how they were to be selected 
was left to the colony itself. Connecticut being a 
wholly patriot colony took the lead and on the 13th 
of June authorized its Committee of Correspondence 
to select suitable persons. 

Others followed quickly and by the middle of August 
all the colonies except Georgia, Florida and Canada 
had selected delegates. 

The Connecticut delegates being the first named, 
suggested to the others that Philadelphia be the place 
of meeting and the word was passed around in the 
correspondence that the Congress meet in Philadelphia 
on the 5th of September. 

Charles Carroll of CarroUton was on the committee 
that selected the delegates from Maryland, but did 
not permit himself to be made a delegate, promising to 
go there any way and assist by his advice and presence. 
He was already occupying so many places of public 
trust that he doubtless felt that he could not satis- 
factorily fill these, and at the same time serve as a 
member of Congress. 

Philadelphia was the metropolis of the continent; 
a populous and beautiful city scattered along the Dela- 
ware River for the distance of a mile ; its white houses 
with green shutters presenting a pretty and impressive 
sight. 

[103] 



104 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

A day or two before the date for the meeting, dele- 
gates began to arrive. The Pennsylvania members 
had arranged that the Congress was to meet in 
Carpenter's Hall and that the members M^ere to have 
the use of the library which occupied a room in that 
building. 

The Maryland delegates reached the city the night 
before the meeting and Charles Carroll of Carrollton 
rode over later in the week. There was pretty thor- 
ough unanimity of opinion, as the Congress was 
made up entirely of those who resented the action of 
the British Parliament and favored resisting it. In 
each colony the political division was into two parties. 
Loyalists and Patriots. The former stood for English 
rule and for submission to the acts of Parliament. 
This party had no representation in the Congress 
which was really a kind of party convention. 

Mr. Carroll on the day of his arrival in Philadelphia 
was introduced to John Adams who entered in his 
diary the fact of being introduced to ' ' one Mr. Carroll 
of Maryland, a Roman Catholic but an ardent patriot 
and a man of one of the verj^ first fortunes in the 
colonies." 

There was much conferring, discussing and compar- 
ing views ; the great question being, ' * can we go as 
far as the Massachusetts delegates desire! " In that 
colony Gen. Gage, the British Commander, had dis- 
solved the Assembly and forbidden tow^n meetin gs. The 
people of Suffolk County in which Boston is located 
had called a county meeting which had taken most 
drastic action under the guidance of Samuel Adams. 
This county meeting had passed the famous Suffolk 
resolutions that actually instituted a new and inde- 
pendent government for the colony. The resolutions 
called upon the people not to recognize the courts or 
the officers and to have nothins: to do with the colonial 



FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 105 

government that acknowledged the authority of Parlia- 
ment. Tax collectors were advised to pay no money 
to the government under Gen. Gage and people were 
urged not to go to law to settle their disputes. The 
patriots were advised to form military companies, to 
drill and prepare for defense ; but to commit no overt 
act. Samuel Adams and John Adams were at the 
Congress as part of the Massachusetts delegation, to 
urge an indorsement of the Suffolk movement. 

Charles Carroll of Carollton evidently w^as with 
John and Samuel Adams in support of the Massachu- 
setts idea. There is no record of this, but it is indi- 
cated by his affiliations in Philadelphia, and by the 
position of the Maryland delegates who w^ere doubtless 
influenced by him. He was constantly pointed to as a 
man of great wealth who was not afraid of the risk of 
defying England. 

The Congress held its session in private and no 
record was made of the details of its doings. Now 
and then something of the proceedings would leak out, 
but generally the stand taken by any individual mem- 
ber was not known. 

It did transpire, however, that the Massachusetts 
idea had been practically indorsed and that a resolu- 
tion to that effect had been sent to Boston by Paul 
Revere, the silversmith, who was waiting to ride with 
the news to his people. 

Mr. J. H. B. Latrobe, who had it directly from Mr. 
Carroll, explained an important and hasty visit which 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton paid to Philadelphia 
during the sitting of the first Continental Congress. 
This visit w^as made at the urgent invitation of Judge 
Chase of the Maryland delegation. 

After the Massachusetts idea had been practically 
indorsed and the radicals had been assured full sway. 



106 CHABLES CAEEOLL OF CARROLLTON 

Mr. Galloway, a very influential member introduced 
an entirely new plan. This was the establishment 
of a Parliament of the united colonies to meet annu- 
ally in Philadelphia and to pass on all acts of the 
English Parliament that affected the colonies in any 
way. The men of Mr. Carroll's way of thinking 
considered any such step as mere temporizing, and 
as giving the English Parliament something to talk 
about while the ardor of the colonies cooled down. 
The men who opposed it did not believe it would be 
accepted by the English Parliament, but believed it 
would be used to divert the attention of the people 
from the real purpose in view, which was to settle for 
all time whether or not the colonies were to be per- 
mitted to manage their own affairs in their own way, 
or were to be kept under the rule of an arbitrary 
English Parliament with the election of whose mem- 
bers they had no part. 

Mr. Carroll was right with Samuel Adams, John 
Adams and the men of that stamp in vigorously oppos- 
ing this measure which they regarded as looking to 
nothing and promising nothing. When a vote on it 
was reached, it was badly beaten and all record of it 
expunged from the proceedings. This action caused 
a wild protest from the Loyalists who professed to 
see in it a determination of the Congress not to meet 
the questions fairly, but to set up a new government 
whether the people wanted it or not. They secured 
a copy of Mr. Galloway's plan, had it printed and 
copies distributed saying it proved that the Congress 
had dropped the veil of hypocrisy and shown itself 
in the true light of a body of men working for absolute 
separation from England. Mr. Carroll wrote a reply 
to this pamphlet which was circulated by the patriots. 
He was not yet a member of the Congress but was one 



FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 107 

of the most influential of the men who had to do with 
its affairs. 

Having disposed of the Galloway plan and fully 
determined on the manner of procedure nothing was 
now left but to put the determination of the Congress 
in shape. This was done in a series of papers to be 
submitted to the British Government. 

First was the Declaration of Rights which was an 
ultimatum for Parliament to accept and have the 
friendship of the colonies or reject and take the con- 
sequences. It was so broad in its demands that it 
appeared to practically abolish the colonial system of 
England. But it was what the colonists had resolved 
to demand and stand by. It is pretty sure that Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton urged his people to submit to 
no modification. 

Four documents in all were agreed to and prepared 
so as to be sent to Parliament. The last was a petition 
to the King. This pointed out that while Parliament 
was repudiated, loyalty to the King was affirmed. 
Another was an address to the people of Canada. 
These papers were prepared in five copies each; and 
each set of five forwarded to London by a different 
conveyance. This was to avoid the possibility of acci- 
dent. Then with the ultimatum and other documents 
off for England the Congress adjourned to May, 1776. 

In those days, as at the present time, great events 
had to be wound up and emphasized by a banquet. 
So the citizens of Philadelphia prepared a great ban- 
quet to the members of the first Continental Congress — 
the greatest banquet that had been given on the con- 
tinent up to that time. Five hundred plates were laid 
and the tables were laden with all the good things to 
eat and to drink that this land and that age could 
boast. Thirty-two formal toasts were drunk and 



108 CHABLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

responded to, and after each toast there was firing of 
cannon on the green. And this banquet with its cheers, 
its splendor, its speeches and the firing of cannon was 
the wind up of this memorable session. Through the 
speeches ran a vein of hopefulness and of loyalty to 
the King, mingled with denunciation of the Parlia- 
ment. The last toast w^as the hope that a happy 
reconciliation would be reached between Great Britain 
and the colonies. 

The banquet which ended the Congress was a great 
affair and it is recorded that it took the delegates two 
or three days to " rest up," before starting for home. 
Neither Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Benjamin 
Franklin nor Thomas Jefferson w^ere members of the 
first Continental Congress. 

The delegates went to their homes to await the re- 
sult of their work. The more sanguine believed that 
England w^ould grant all the demands and that the 
meeting next May would be a kind of jubilee and a 
ratification of their previous acts. These expected 
that the united colonies would then formulate regula- 
tions for their mutual benefit, and that they would at 
once come into that measure of liberty and independ- 
ance for which they had been so earnestly at work. 
There was nothing left but to wait for the reception 
of the papers, and in those days it was a long wait; 
for not much news got back to the colonies till the 
next Spring. 

Though the copies of the papers for England were 
sent by five different ships all of the five encountered 
the same series of gales and all were driven back, 
causing considerable delay. It was well in November 
before they got started and late in December before 
the first one reached England. Parliament had ad- 
journed for the Christmas recess ; but the ncAvs of the 
ultimatum and accompanying papers caused much 



FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 109 

discussion, a great deal of denunciation and ridicule, 
together with a little commendation. 

Some letters told of how the Whigs in England read 
and commended the spirit and force of the papers, 
how some Tories ridiculed and denounced them, how 
some Englishmen called the members of Congress 
traitors and how others thought them merely fools; 
but nothing of an authentic or official nature was 
received. 

From the inception of the struggle against the 
mother country Charles Carroll of Carrollton felt sure 
that the effect would be war first and independence 
as a result of the war. With that idea firmly in his 
mdnd, he had his committees go right on with their 
work of preparation. 

Just before the proceedings of the first American 
Congress reached Great Britain the King suddenly 
dissolved Parliament, and issued writs for a general 
election. It was a move of peculiarly shrewd 
** politics," for the Ministry had every reason to 
believe that the proceedings of Congress would be 
conciliatory, tending to allay the heat of the English 
public against the colonies; and by thus prematurely 
forcing a neAV election while the public was still excited 
against Ajnerica; it was hoped that the Government 
majority would be increased — a theory which proved 
eminently successful in practice. When the proceed- 
ings of the Congress was transmitted to Parliament, 
they came before men prepared to give them no heed, 
and were referred, with a great mass of other papers, 
to a committee which Edmund Burke happily styled 
*' the Committee of Oblivion." Franklin, who was 
then in London, drew up what he termed an " anec- 
dote " of the King's speech for the meeting of this 
Parliament. It afforded great amusement to the 
friends of America, but didn't get into print. This 



110 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

is what the ever-humorous Franklin thought the King 
should say in his address to parliament : 

My Lords and Gentlemen, It gives me much 
concern that I am obliged at the opening of this 
Parliament to inform you that none of the 
measures adopted by the last Parliament in 
respect to the disturbances of my American 
colonies have produced those salutary effects, 
which relying upon the supposed wisdom of their 
deliberations I had been induced to expect. I 
therefore sent that Parliament, a packing rather 
abruptly, and have called you in their place to 
pick a little advice out of your wise heads upon 
some matters of the greatest weight and import- 
ance relating to a sort of Crusade that I have 
upon my hands. I must needs tell you that the 
business if you chuse to undertake it for me, will 
be a seven or ten years job at least. You must 
know then that my ministers have put me upon 
a project to undertake the reduction of the whole 
continent of North America to unconditional sub- 
mission. They have persuanded me to coax you 
into this project by representing it to you as a 
matter to be done in a twinkling, and to make 
you believe that my subjects in America whom 
you have always hitherto considered as brave 
men, are no better than a wretched pack of 
cowardly run-a-ways, and that 500 men with 
whips mil make them all dance to the tune of 
Yankee Doodle; but I will tell you no such thing 
because I am very sure if you meddle with it that 
you will find it a very different sort of business. 

Now, Gentlemen of the House of Commons, I 
give you this fair notice for yourselves and your 
Constituents. If you undertake this job it will 
cost you at the least farthing a good round sum 
of forty or fifty millions ; forty or fifty thousands 
of your Constituents will get knocked on the head 
and then you are to consider what the rest of 
you will be gainers by the bargain even if you 
succeed. The trade of a ruined and desolated 



FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 111 

country is always inconsiderable, its revenue 
trifling; the expense of subjecting and retaining 
it in subjection, should that connexion which we 
wish most ardently to maintain be dissolved, 
should my Ministers exhaust your treasures and 
waste the blood of your Country men in vain 
will they not deliver you weak and defenceless to 
your natural enemies'? 

You must know this is not the first time that 
the Serpent has been whispering into my ear. 
Tax America. Cost what it will, make them your 
hewers of wood and drawers of water. Let them 
feel that your little finger is thicker than the loins 
of all your ancestors. But I was wiser than all 
that. I sent to Lord Rockingham and the advice 
that he gave me was this, not to burn my fingers 
in the business. That it was ten to one against 
our making any hand of it at all, that they were 
not worth shearing and at best that we should 
raise a cursed outcry and get but little wool. I 
shall remember his last advice to me as long as 
I live. Speak good words to them and they will 
be thy Servants forever. 

And now my Lords and Gentlemen, I have 
stated the whole matter fairly and squarely before 
you. It is your own business and if you are not 
content as you are, look to the rest for yourselves. 
But if I were to give you a word of advice it 
should be to remind you of the Italian Epitaph 
upon a poor fool that killed himself with quack- 
ing '' I was well, I would be better, I took Physick 
and died." 

No one could prove who produced this humorous 
speech but it was so like the act of Franklin that all 
familiar with affairs felt well assured. 

Copies reached this country and the reading of them 
was much enjoyed. When a copy was handed to Mr. 
Carroll he read it carefully and smilingly said : 

'' What a man! Nothing is serious enough to 
suppress the humor that bubbles up in Franklin. ' ' 



CHAPTER XI 

NEWS FROM ENGLAND — TRIP OF THE COMMISSION- 
ERS TO CANADA 

Arriving home from Philadelphia in the late Fall 
and quickly resuming his duties on the Committee of 
Safety, the Committee of Correspondence and the other 
committees connected with his patriotic duties, Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton was frequently asked by his 
neighbors what he thought would be the reply to the 
papers sent by the Continental Congress to the 
British ministry. His answer invariably was : 

*' The papers will have no effect whatever. 
The King, Parliament and English people are 
against making any concession to the colonies." 

'' But the speeches of Burke, Barie and Lord 
Chatham?" 

"■ They indicate nothing whatever. They repre- 
sent only the Whig minority that has no influence 
mth the government or with the people. Their 
splendid efforts rather hinder than help our 
cause. Whatever we get we must fight for. Our 
people should clearly understand that." 

From Philadelphia he came directly to Annapolis 
where he met his father and together they went over 
the situation carefully and weighed the cost and the 
risks fully. 

Christmas arrived with no news from London. 
Christmas in Maryland has always meant !he entire 
week from Christmas Eve to New Year, Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton spent the first part of Christmas 
at Doughoregon Manor and rode to Baltimore where 
he met many public men and fully discussed the 
crisis through which the colonies were passing. He 

[113] 



114 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

tried on every occasion to dispel the illusion which 
most people held, that Parliament would seek to recon- 
cile the colonies, and would pass some measures of a 
conciliatory nature. He neither hoped for, nor had 
any expectation of such a result. He was in England 
at the time of the Stamp Act agitation, and was too 
familiar with the temper of the people to fail in a 
complete understanding of the conditions at this time. 
That Charles Carroll of Annapolis was in thorough 
accord with his son is shown by some letters written 
by him from the Manor to Charles Carroll of Carroll- 
ton in Annapolis telling of the arrival of gun powder 
and the progress of the saltpetre works. There is 
nothing in any of these letters to indicate a hope of 
peace. Everything referred to preparations for war. 

In September 1775 Charles Carroll of Carrollton 
wrote to Gren. Washington introducing Mr. Key. 
Washington had been on intimate terms mth the 
Carrolls since some time before the return of the 
younger Carroll from Europe. The intimacy doubt- 
less began in connection with the Clinton Iron Works 
in Virginia with which Mr. Carroll had some connec- 
tion. It is of record that Washington frequently rode 
up to Annapolis to attend the races, go to the play 
and enjoy the all around good times of hospitable 
Annapolis. In those days Annapolis had the reputa- 
tion of being the social and hilarious center of 
colonial life. Baltimore was fast rising as a business 
and manufacturing point, but Baltimore was too busy 
and business like to vie with Annapolis as a social 
or political center. 

News from England as to what the government had 
done was anxiously awaited by most people, and many 
could hardly understand the certainty with which the 
Carrolls looked on the situation. The father fully 



NEWS FROM ENGLAND 115 

shared the view of the young man that there was no 
hope of a reconciliation with the mother comitry. 

The state of micertainty in the colonies continued 
till April. The trip over was a long one at best and 
the heavy storms of early Spring had caused unusual 
delays. But early in April a brig arrived bringing 
English papers. These told that the '^ ultimatum " 
the petition to the King, and every proposition of the 
Continental Congress had been rejected by the Parlia- 
ment and everywhere ridiculed and denounced by the 
people. 

Instead of conceding anything, Parliament had met 
the demands by passing a series of laws more 
drastic and more oppressive than any heretofore even 
suggested. 

The Boston port bill was affirmed. The colonists 
were prohibited from buying or selling to one another. 

The colonists were denied all rights to the fishing 
grounds. 

These and several other measures equally severe 
were passed by a two-thirds majority. In addition to 
all this, appropriations were made for paying the 
expense of an army of 10,000 men to be sent to the 
colonies for their subjugation at once. 

Maryland's peculiar relations were so far practi- 
cally unchanged. Governor Eden continued to pose as 
Governor, rather than act in that capacity. The con- 
vention which had possessed itself of all authority in 
the Province rather encouraged him to call himself 
the Governor, to hold receptions and give dances, but 
allowed him no authority whatever. The Province 
recognized neither the Crown, the Henry Harford claim 
nor the claim of the legitimate heirs of the deceased 
Lord Proprietor. To all intents and purposes Mary- 
land was an independent Province. 

Just before Christmas and when many of the people 



116 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

were still expecting a favorable outcome of the com- 
munications to London the Committee of Safety con- 
sisting of ten members from the Western Shore and 
ten from Eastern shore met at Chestertown. Both 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Charles Carroll, 
barrister were present. The committee went right 
on preparing for the struggle as if the^^ knew that 
Britain would make no concessions. 

The most important action w^as the appointment of 
a committee of five, with Charles Carroll of Carroll- 
ton as chairman " to devise ways and means for the 
manufacture of salt petre. ' ' 

The Committee of Safety reconvened on the 1st of 
January when the Carroll sub-committee on salt petre 
reported an elaborate plan for erecting salt petre 
w^orks in every county with a central refining plant 
where the product would be made into gun powder. 
Two other sub-committees were named one for pro- 
adding clothes and food for the Maryland troops, and 
the other on instructions to the members of Congress. 
Though Charles Carroll of Carrollton was chairman 
of this last committee he was out voted and a resolu- 
tion was carried instructing the delegates to disavow 
all designs of the colonies for independence. After 
some other resolutions for the regulation of the gov- 
ernment were passed the convention adjourned and 
on the same day January 18th the Council of Safety 
convened. 

The need of coin for the Canadian campaign was 
shown to be so urgent that a committee was appointed 
in each county to collect all the gold and silver coin 
that could be secured and to forward it for that pur- 
pose. Charles Carroll of Carrollton was appointed to 
collect in Anne Arundel County and he proved the 
most successful of all the collectors. Probably because 



NEWS FROM ENGLAND 117 

he had his father and himself as liberal contributors. 
His collection amounted to 120£. 

About this time the British Man-of-War Otter 
appeared in the Chesapeake Bay greatly to the alarm 
of the people in the marine towns. Charles Carroll 
of Carrollton wrote to Col. Thos. Dorsey of the Elk 
Ridge Militia March 8th instructing him to march all 
the companies he had, that were well armed to the 
defense of Baltimore, as that place seemed in danger 
of immediate attack. He said this was the sense of 
the Committee on Observation and the order would 
be confirmed by the Committee of Safety. 

About this time the announcement was made that 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton had been selected as 
one of the coimnissioners to represent the Congress 
in Canada. The other tw^o commissioners were 
Samuel Chase and Benjamin Franklin. In mention- 
ing the personnel of this commission, John Adams says 
" the characters of the two first you know. The last 
is not a member of Congress, but a gentleman of inde- 
pendent fortune, perhaps the largest in America — a 
hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand pounds 
Sterling; educated in some university in France; 
though a native of America; of great abilities and 
learning, complete master of the French language and 
a professor of the Roman Catholic Religion; yet a 
warm, a firm, a zealous supporter of the rights of 
America in whose cause he has hazarded his all. ' ' 

His friend. Chase, had undoubtedly been instru- 
mental in having Mr. Carroll selected because of his 
great executive ability and because of his knowledge 
of the French language and his influence with the 
French Catholics of Canada. Almost the entire popu- 
lation of Canada at that time was Catholic. The 
American expedition to Canada following the capture 
of Ticonderoga and Crown Point was not in an 



118 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

encouraging condition and it was hoped that a tactful 
effort by a commission like this might be helpful to 
our cause. Mr. Carroll was requested to invite his 
Cousin John Carroll a Catholic priest of great learn- 
ing and influence to accompany the commission. The 
year before parliament had passed what was known as 
the Quebec bill. This was a measure guaranteeing 
religious liberty and considerable economic liberty 
and advantage to the French Canadians. As newly 
acquired subjects it was thought expedient to treat 
them well and so Great Britain had given them many 
rights which had been constantly denied to the older 
colonies. This was one of the grievances of the Con- 
tinental Congress and the treatment of this subject 
had been one of the matters that called Charles Car- 
roll of Carrollton to Philadelphia. The Congress on 
the one hand having denounced Parliament for treat- 
ing the Canadians so well; found it a little awkward, 
on the other to make the effort to convince them that 
they had been treated so badly that they should break 
away from their new allegiance and go with the 
American colonies. This was one of the tasks 
entrusted to the commission. In addition to this the 
condition of the American troops was reported as very 
serious. General Montgomery had been killed and 
Arnold badly wounded. The troops were so poorly 
fed that they had become troublesome and expensive 
in their raids on the people. All in all, they were 
hungry, badly clothed and discouraged when the small 
pox broke out and made terrible ravages amongst 
them. It was under these conditions that the com- 
mission met in Philadelphia and started for Canada 
by way of New York, the Hudson River and the Lakes 
George and Champlain to Montreal. The commis- 
sioners accompanied by Rev. John Carroll, afterwards 
the first Roman Catholic Bishop in xA.merica, met in 



NEWS FROM ENGLAND 119 

New York and started north on a sloop April 2nd. 
The distance from New York to Montreal is about 
three hundred miles on a straight line by river from 
New York to Albany, thence by wagon and through 
Lake George and Lake Champlain to the Canadian line 
a few miles from Montreal. They had bad weather, 
but good winds and most of the time the party kept 
on deck and viewed the beautiful scenery of the Hud- 
son. They reached Albany in three days and w^ere 
met by Gen. Schuyler who came from his house about 
a mile from Albany and took the party to dine 
with him. Mr. Carroll thinks Albany larger than 
Annapolis but finds that the people mostly speak 
Dutch. From Albany they go north in a wagon accom- 
panied by Gen. and Mrs. Schuyler, their two daugh- 
ters and Gen. Thomas. Generals Thomas and Schuy- 
ler were two of the commanders of the American 
troops in the north. By evening the party reach Sara- 
toga Springs where Gen. Schuyler entertains them 
at his country seat. This is only thirty-two miles from 
Albany but the roads were heav}^ 

In that early day a man of Mr. Carroll 's keen obser- 
vation was impressed with the necessity of an all water 
route from New York to Quebec and he even figured 
on the cost of cutting a canal from the Hudson River 
to Lake George. Mr. Carroll and the rest of his party 
started on the 16th, ' ' parting with the amiable family 
of General Schuyler with regret." They breakfasted 
with Col. Allen at Fort Edward on the 17th and drank 
tea on the shore of Montcalm Bay on the 18th. Reach- 
ing the south end of Lake George, Mr. Carroll visited 
the saw^ mill, viewed the spot where Lord Howe was 
killed and the next day went over to Ticonderoga. 
Then they passed on north and up Lake Champlain 
in the bateaux that was to take them to St. Johns. 
They reached Crown Point in the afternoon and slept 



120 CHAELES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

at a farm house there. On the way north they fre- 
quently stopped at the farm houses and enjoyed the 
good meals the families could furnish. They brought 
four beds all the way from Philadelphia and usually 
slept in them. But reaching the north end of their 
boat trip, they spent one day and night at the house 
of Col. Hazen and the next day crossed to St. Johns 
where carriages and carts met them and they were 
taken eighteen miles to La Prairie and across to 
Montreal. 

They were received by Gen. Arnold and some of 
the city's leading people were on hand to welcome 
them. Then they were quartered in the house of Mr. 
Thomas Walker described as perhaps the best built 
and the best furnished house in town. 

In his diary, Mr. Carroll tells of the cordial recep- 
tion by Gen. Arnold, of the entertainments by the 
people and of receiving and making visits which 
occupied the next daj^ 

The day following the commissioners made their 
first report to the president of the Congress, telling 
the need of specie, of more troops and of the wretched 
condition of those in Canada. They say ''it is 
impossible to give you a just idea of the lowness of 
the Continental credit here and the want of hard 
money; and the prejudice it is to our affairs." The 
commissioners had full authority to do what ever they 
thought best ; to supervise the military, change officers, 
treat mth the Indians, order fortifications, etc. They 
held a meeting in w^hich all the officers were given a 
hearing. It was determined to ask Congress for 
£20,000 in specie to pay the debts already incurred 
and to form a fund for taking up continental bills. 

They found that there was a great change of senti- 
ment against the colonies, caused by the want of 
money which had forced the commanders to do many 



NEWS FROM ENGLAND 121 

arbitrary things which the Canadians resented. The 
commissioners advised that the Americans evacuate 
Canada and fortify the places on the lakes. They also 
report that after conferences with the Indians they 
were assured of the neutrality of the latter during 
this contest. 

After further informing Congress of the deplorable 
state of affairs; made worse by the rigid spread of 
small pox among the troops, the commissioners 
express the belief that '' it will not be in our power 
to render our countrj^ any further service in this 
colony. ' ' 

Before going south, Mr. Chase and Mr. Carroll 
wrote fully to Congress of the deplorable conditions 
and made some further suggestions. The party 
arrived in Canada, April 29th, and remained there 
till May 11th. On that date they visited Fort Chamb- 
lay. Dr. Franklin left for home as the hardships of 
the trip were telling severely on him. At this time 
they write Congress, ' ' your Generals are now obliged 
to be contractors and commissioners, and your com- 
missioners, who have neither ability nor inclination 
are compelled to be Generals." 

On May 27th they sum up by saying, '* we cannot 
find words strong enough to describe our miserable 
situation; you will have a faint idea of it if you will 
figure to yourself an army broken and disheartened, 
half of it under innoculation, or under other diseases ; 
soldiers without pay, without dicipline, and altogether 
reduced to live from hand to mouth, depending on the 
scanty and precarious supplies of a few half starved 
cattle, and trifling quantities of flour picked up in 
different parts of the country." 

After some further recommendations to Congress 
they went to St. Johns and made a visit to General 



122 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Sullivan who had just arrived there with fourteen hun- 
dred men. They then sailed on their return trip. 

Rev. John Carroll had returned with Dr. Franklin. 

Mr. Carroll and Mr. Chase accompanied by Gen. 
Schuyler who met them, continued their way south. 
At Saratoga they regretted not seeing the amiable 
family of Gen. Schuyler. They were joined at Sara- 
toga by their servants and their luggage and con- 
tinued the trip to Albany, thence to New York on a 
sloop that awaited them. 

In New York they reported to Gen. "Washington and 
also saw Generals Gates and Putnam. Gen. Washing- 
ton's barge took them around Staten Island to Eliza- 
bethtown. They reached Philadelphia by boat in the 
night of June 10th. After Mr. Chase and Mr. Carroll 
had left, Gen. Washington wrote to the President of 
Congress of his seeing them and of the report they 
would make. 

The journal of Congress merely mentions that the 
commissioners made their report. Mr. Carroll 
remained a few days in Philadelphia attending as a 
spectator the sessions of Congress. While there he 
wrote to Gen. Gates a long but frank and explicit let- 
ter giving his views of the conditions and require- 
ments in Canada. It was believed that Gates would 
be given command of the armies of the north. 

The trip of the eminent commissioners was really 
more successful than is indicated by a record of their 
work. A strong impression in our favor was made 
especially on the people of the province of Quebec 
and it is believed that they would have cast their lot 
with our colonies but for some foolish and untactful 
letters written by John Jay at a critical junction in 
their affairs. Mr. Jay bitterly attacked the people of 
Canada on account of their religion and settled the 
matter against us. 



CHAPTER XII 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE — THE NEW CON- 
STITUTION FOR MARYLAND 

On the return of Charles Carroll of Carrollton from 
his trip to Canada he found that the Maryland Con- 
vention had been in session since May 8th and that 
it had passed the following resolution of instructions 
to the Maryland delegates in Congress : 

Resolved that as this Convention is firmly 
persuaded that a reunion with Great Britain on 
Constitutional principles would most effectually 
secure the rights and liberties, and increase the 
strength and j)romote the happiness of the whole 
empire, "objects which this Province hath ever 
had in view, the said deputies are bound and 
directed to govern themselves by the instructions 
in its session of December last in the same man- 
ner as if said instructions were herein repeated. 

Both Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Samuel 
Chase were absent in Canada w^hen this resolution 
was passed and both were chagrined and dismayed on 
learning of it. 

Thomas Johnson and Charles Carroll, barrister, 
had represented Anne Arundel County in the con- 
vention during the absence of the other two members 
in Canada. Though both of these delegates were 
opposed to the resolution they were not able to pre- 
vent its passage. 

A new convention however, met on the 21st of June. 
Three of the Anne Arundel delegates w^ere present 
including Mr. Chase, but Charles Carroll of Carroll- 
ton did not attend till the 24th, being detained by his 
duties on the Council of Safety. On the 28th the 

[123] 



124 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

previous instructions were revoked by the passage of 
this resolution. 

Resolved, that the instructions given by the 
convention of December last (and renewed by the 
convention in May) to the deputies of this colony 
in Congress be recalled and the restrictions 
therein contained removed; that the deputies of 
this colony attending in Congress, or a majority 
of them or any three or more of them, be author- 
ized and empowered to concur with the other 
united colonies, or a majority of them in declar- 
ing the united colonies free and independent 
states, provided the sole and exclusive right of 
regulations of the internal government and policy 
of this colony be reserved to the people thereof. 

A resolution was then adopted providing for a con- 
vention to frame a new Constitution for Maryland 
and on the fourth of July delegates were elected to 
represent the colony in Congress. Matthew Tilghman, 
Thomas Johnson, Wm. Paca, Samuel Chase, Thomas 
Stone and Charles Carroll of Carrollton were elected. 

The convention adjourned on the 6th after issuing 
an address to the people of the Province reciting the 
wrongs they had suffered and the determination to 
separate from Great Britain; the King having vio- 
lated his compact with the people. 

The historians of Maryland say that Charles Car- 
roll of Carrollton was principally instrumental in 
securing the passage of the resolution favoring inde- 
pendence and that he was elected to Congress as a 
reward for this service. 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Samuel Chase 
were just from Philadelphia where they had been in 
constant conference with the members of Congress 
on the question of independence. 

Virginia had already declared herself a sovereign 
state and the patriot party of Maryland was anxious 



NEW CONSTITUTION FOR MARYLAND 125 

to get in line with her ; and men like Carroll and Chase 
chafed under anything like restraint. 

The new members of Congress from Maryland hur- 
ried to Philadelphia and took their seats on July 18th, 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton among them. On the 
next day the Declaration of Independence which had 
passed July 4th was ordered engrossed on parchment 
and on August 2nd it was signed by those present on 
that day. 

On the day he was sworn in, July 18th, Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton, was appointed on a committee 
of three to examine and report on some interrupted 
correspondence from Lord Howe to Governors Dins- 
more of Virginia and Eden of Maryland. 

On the 19th he was appointed as an additional mem- 
ber of the Board of War. This board as now consti- 
tuted was made up of six members, John Adams, 
Roger Sherman, Benjamin Harrison, James Wilson, 
Edmund Rutledge, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton 
with Richard Peters as the Secretary. 

In his diary, John Adams has an entry of July 18th 
in reference to the address to the War Board which 
said, ** the member chosen is Mr. Carroll. An excel- 
lent member whose education, manners and applica- 
tion to business and to study did honor to his fortune, 
the first in America." 

The new convention to frame a form of government 
for Maryland now a State, met at Annapolis August 
14th of this year. Charles Carroll of Carrollton and 
William Paca were the members from Anne Arundel 
Count}'. Charles Carroll of Carrollton came over 
from Philadelphia and took his seat on the 17th. 
Work of the convention went right on in a most 
expeditious and business like manner. Matthew 
Tilghman was made president of the convention. A 



126 CHAELES CARROLL OF OARROLLTON 

committee of three with Charles Carroll of CarroUton 
as chairman was named to report upon the state of 
the loan office. Then a committee of Maryland's 
greatest minds was designated to draw a bill of Rights 
and a Constitution. This committee consisted of 
Matthew Tilghman, Charles Carroll, barrister, 
William Paca, Charles Carroll of CarroUton, George 
Plater, Samuel Chase and Robert Goldsborough. 
Maryland was represented in Congress during this 
period by a single member Thomas Stone, the other 
members having gone home to attend the state con- 
vention. 

There were some disagreements as to the Bill of 
Rights and Charles Carroll, barrister, with Thos. 
Beale Worthington and Samuel Chase withdrew from 
the convention. The two latter were re-elected to the 
convention but Charles Carroll, barrister, was left off 
at his own request and was made a member of 
Congress. 

On the 17th of September the Maryland convention 
adjourned to October 2nd and the members of Con- 
gress returned to their duties in that body. 

On the reassembling of the convention Charles Car- 
roll of CarroUton was in his seat. He was appointed 
on a committee to prepare and present a plan for 
issuing bills of credit so that the state could meet the 
necessary expense of defense. 

The Maryland delegates in Congress and three 
others formed a committee to consider matters for 
Congress relating to the State of Maryland. Except 
for a few days absence on account of illness in his 
family, Charles Carroll of CarroUton continued his 
service every day of the seven for the convention 
held its sessions on Sunday and the legislative bodies 
of the State continued to do so for a number of years. 
The theory of this was that the work for the people 



NEW CONSTITUTION FOB MARYLAND 127 

was the Lord's work and therefore was no desecration 
of the Sabbath. 

On the 31st the Bills of Rights was taken up and 
with some amendation adopted on November 3rd. 
The Constitution was then discussed till the 8th when 
it was adopted and after clearing up some inci- 
dental business relating to expenses the convention 
adjourned November 11th. 

Thos. Johnson was elected Governor under the Con- 
stitution on the 13th. On the following day his five 
counsellors were selected and Charles Carroll of 
Annapolis headed the list. Both father and son 
appreciated this compliment and it must have been 
especially pleasing and gratifying to the elder Carroll 
who had so long chafed under the political disability 
of his family and friends. To see his son the most 
prominent and honored man of the Province and a 
power in the nation, and to be called himself to a 
position of great honor must have been a pretty full 
vindication for him in his advancing years. His 
health however, with the duties of the great estate to 
look after, caused him to decline the compliment. It 
can readily be seen that Charles Carroll of CarroUton 
had but little time for attention to the private affairs 
of the family. 

The idea of a Senate as an upper house was origi- 
nated and perfected by Mr. Carroll. Some question 
as to this was raised during Mr. Carroll's life time 
and in 1817 being asked as to the facts he wrote this 
letter of explanation: 

I was one of the committee that framed the 
constitution of this state and the mode of chusing 
the Senate was suggested by me ; no objection was 
made to it in the committee as I remember except 
by Mr. Johnson, who disliked the Senate's filling 
up the vacancies in its own body. I replied that 



128 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

if the mode of chusing Senators by electors was 
deemed eligible, the filling up vacancies by that 
body was inevitable as the electors could not be 
convened to make choice of a Senator on every 
vacancy and that the senate acting under the 
sanctity of an oath and esprit de corps, would 
insure the election of the fittest men for that sta- 
tion, nor do I recollect while I was in the senate, 
that the power intrusted to it in this instance was 
ever abused and perverted to party views. I do 
not remember, at this distance of time, whether 
this part of the committee's report was objected 
to in the convention, nor any reports of its debates 
and proceedings other than that found in Han- 
son's edition of the laws, nor what was under- 
standing of that body respecting the right of the 
Governor of nominating to the council. 

The Congress was still in session in Baltimore in 
February 1777. On that date the Council of Safety 
called the first Assembly of Marjdand together. It 
met in Annapolis on February 5th. The Senate 
selected by the board of electors as provided by the 
Constitution, was made up of Charles Carroll of Car- 
rollton, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, George Plater, 
William Paca, Thomas Stone, Joseph Nicholson, Jr., 
Brice T. B. Worthington, Turbutt Wright, Samuel 
Wilson, James Tilglunan, Mathew Tilghman, Robert 
Goldsborough, Charles Carroll, barrister, Thomas 
Johnson and Thomas Contee. 

Some routine business was first transacted which 
gets meagre mention on the records. Then instruc- 
tions were given as to a Virginia regiment serving in 
Maryland. A vote for Governor was taken on the 13th 
and Thomas Johnson was made the State's first 
Executive. This mode of electing a Governor by the 
Legislature was continued till up to the time of a few 
people still alive. Governor Samuel Stevens of Tal- 
bot, the last Governor elected by the Legislature, lived 



NEW CONSTITUTION FOR MARYLAND 129 

till after the Civil War and was always a conspicuous 
and honored figure at great political gatherings. 

On the 15th the Maryland delegates to Congress 
were elected as follows: Samuel Chase, Benjamin 
Rumsey, William Smith, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 
Thomas Stone and William Paca. Mr. Stone declined 
to serve. Mr. Rumsey w^as the father of the Maryland 
man who built the first steamboat. 

So many of the Senators were also members of Con- 
gress that it was hard to get or hold a quorum. 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton however attended most 
of the sessions of the Senate till adjournment April 17. 

At this session of the Assembly the Maryland dele- 
gates to Congress were instructed to bring the thirteen 
States into a confederation for a stricter union. Other 
instructions were given in regard to proportioning the 
debt of the States, etc. 

Col, John Fitzgerald of Washington's staff writes 
from Morristown, N. J., to tell Charles Carroll of 
Carrollton that an armed vessel arrived at Portsmouth 
on the 18th from France with a cargo of 12,000 stands 
of arms, 1,000 barrels of powder, flints, guns for frig- 
ate, woolens, linens, etc., and also that a 50 gun ship 
sailed at the same time laden with heavy artillery and 
military stores. The colonel says " this news I am 
sure will be very agreeable to you and every other 
gentleman so strongly attached and deeply interested 
in this dispute. ' ' 

After putting in a few days, two weeks only in fact, 
on some affairs of private business Charles Carroll of 
Carrollton appeared in his seat in Congress May 5th 
and was soon also in his old place in the Board of War, 
Samuel Adams was made a member of the board and 
Mr. Nourse was installed as assistant to Mr. Peters, 
the clerk. 

The War Board was instructed to outline plans of 
5 



130 CHAJtLES CARROLL OF CABROLLTON 

campaign and to make recommendations for improving 
the discipline of the army. 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton was added to the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Applications on May 12th. This 
was doubtless done at the suggestion of General Wash- 
ington, who wanted to keep a closer line on the foreign 
officers who desired to enter our army. Mr. Carroll's 
French acquaintance and his familiarity with that 
tongue made him especially useful in this work, as 
most of the applicants were French. The Committee 
on Applications became really an annex of the War 
Board. In July Samuel Chase came to take his seat 
in Congress which enabled Mr. Carroll to take a rest. 

In August Charles Carroll of Carrollton wrote to 
Dr. Franklin in Paris giving him a pretty full account 
of the progress of the war and the condition of things 
generally. He feels assured that the struggle for inde- 
pendence will be crowned with success but feels we 
must suffer in the meantime. His greatest apprehen- 
sion is the fear of the depreciation of our paper money. 
He mentions the possibility of engaging some foreign 
soldiers but does not like the idea. The want of salt 
is mentioned and he says a bushel of salt sold in Balti- 
more for £9 ($40) — necessaries of life except wheat 
are very high — a part of this is told in a postscript 
which he mentions is longer than the letter. 

The letter shows the cordial, almost brotherly feel- 
ing that existed between Mr. Carroll and Dr. Franklin. 



CHAPTER XIII 

SIGNING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 
AND THE MEN WHO SIGNED 

Although the story of the signing of the Declaration 
of Independence has been written about and talked 
about for over one hundred and forty-one years, most 
people of to-day have only a vague impression of what 
actually took place. The most recent telling of the 
story by an actual participant was in 1826 when the 
scene was revived and Mr. Carroll talked freely and 
fully about it. 

In the Spring of that year Congress resolved that 
it would be fitting to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary 
of the Signing by having facsimile copies of the docu- 
ment made. A sum of money was appropriated and 
two hundred and fifty copies of the old document were 
ordered, which should be reproductions of the original 
as perfect as the art of engraving could produce. Two 
copies were ordered presented to each of the living 
signers, and two to each family of a deceased signer. 
At the time this order was given John Adams, Thomas 
Jefferson and Charles Carroll of Carrollton were alive. 
But on the 4th of July of that year, and before the 
engraving of the document had been completed, 
Jefferson and Adams both died. This left Mr. Carroll 
as the only living signer. 

The copies were finished and ready for delivery soon 
after Sept. 1st. Mr. Carroll was notified that a com- 
mittee from Washington, accompanied by a messenger 
bringing the two copies would call on him to deliver 
the documents on Sept. 21. He was in Annapolis when 
the messenger came but notified the committee that he 
would receive them at the Manor. 

[131] 



132 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

The committee was headed by Hon. Ezekel F. Cham- 
bers, then a Senator from Maryland. Mr. Carroll had 
called together his family and a few friends and with 
these received the committee and messenger who 
brought the copies of The Declaration of Independ- 
ence, as made under the direction of Congress. The 
two copies M^ere presented and Judge Chambers after 
felicitating Mr. Carroll on his good health and his long 
life of usefulness handed him the following letter : 

Dept. of State, 

Washington, D. C. 

To Charles Carroll, 

of Carrollton. 

Sin- 
In pursuance of a joint resolution of the two 
houses of Congress, a copy of which is hereto 
annexed, and by direction of the President of the 
United States, I have the honor of transmitting 
to you two facsimile copies of the original Decla- 
ration of Independence engrossed on parchment, 
conformably to a resolution of Congress of nine- 
teenth of July, 1776, to be signed by every mem- 
ber of Congress, and accordingly signed on the 
second day of August, of the same year. Of this 
document, unparalleled in the annals of mankind, 
the original, deposited in this department, exhibits 
your name as one of the subscribers. The rolls 
herewith transmitted are copies as exact as the 
art of engraving can present, of the instrument 
itself, as well as of the Signers to it. 

While performing the duty thus assigned me, 
permit me to felicitate you, and the country which 
is reaping the rewards of your labors as well; 
that your hand was affixed to this record of glory, 
as that, after the lapse of near half a century, you 
survive to receive this tribute of reverence and 
gratitude from your children, the present fathers 
of the land. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 133 

With every sentiment of veneration, I have the 
honor of subscribing myself your fellow citizen. 

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

Presented at 

Doughoregan Manor, 
Sept. 15th, 1826. 

The occasion revived the story of the signing. Mr. 
J. H. B. Latrobe, who wrote the life of Mr. Carroll for 
Sanderson's Lives of the Signers, was one of those 
present. He and Judge Chambers lived to tell the 
story of that evening to people of the present genera- 
tion. Mr. Latrobe was at that time at work on what 
he hoped would be another edition of his ' ' Life of Mr. 
Carroll " and was, therefore, careful to note his 
explanation with care. 

Mr. Jefferson, by inadvertently omitting the word 
" afterwards " in his brief account of their doings, 
caused people erroneously to believe that the document 
was signed on July Fourth, when, in fact, it was not 
signed for weeks and even months afterwards. The 
only signing on the Fourth of July was by John 
Hancock, the President, and Charles Thompson, the 
Secretary. 

In fact, the idea of signing did not seem to occur to 
anyone till some time afterwards. 

On the 19th of July Congress passed a resolution 
directing a copy of the document to be made on parch- 
ment, to which the signatures of members of Congress 
should be appended. 

This was done and on August 2 all members present 
affixed their names. 

On the Fourth of July previous, after the vote had 
been taken, about 7 o'clock in the evening, it is told 
that the Liberty bell was rung as an announcement to 
the people that the Declaration of Independence had 
been adopted. 



134 CHAELES CAEROLL OF CARROLLTON 

As the bell pealed the news, Mr. Dickinson seriously 
observed: '' I regard that as the death knell of these 
colonies. ' ' 

Benjamin Franklin replied: **And I regard it as the 
announcement of the birth of a nation. ' ' 

Mr. Carroll made it clear always that he did not 
have the opportunity to vote for independence. 

On the last days of June and first days of July he 
was busy in Annapolis, persuading the Maryland 
Assembly to revoke the instruction to their delegation 
in Congress against independence. This he succeeded 
in doing, but did not get to Philadelphia till after July 
4th. His account of what went on in Congress was, 
therefore, learned in his many talks with his associates. 

On the first of July, 1776, Congress was struggling 
with the question of independence. Many patriots felt 
that the colonies had such good friends in England 
that it would be most politic to make the fight as 
English colonies. A number of the colonies, among 
them New York and Maryland, had instructed their 
representatives not to vote for independence. Such 
instructions, however, had been modified or revoked 
when the actual struggle began. 

The real fight opened July 2, when Mr. Lee of 
Virginia offered this resolution: 

Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and 
of right ought to be free and independent states : 
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the 
British Crown, and that all political connection 
between them and the State of Great Britain, is 
and ought to be, totally dissolved. ' ' 

The resolution after being hotly debated all day was 
unanimously carried. 

A committee of five with Mr. Jefferson as Chairman 
was appointed to draft a formal Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. This committee made its report on July 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 135 

4 — Mr. Jefferson laid the document he had prepared 
before his associates, merely remarking: '* I present 
this as embodying the views of your committee. It is 
for you to adopt, reject or correct. In discussing its 
merits I shall take no part. The document itself 
speaks for the committee." 

It was read through and then taken up by para- 
graphs. John Adams, one of the committee, vigor- 
ously insisted on its adoption as presented, but there 
was strong opposition to much of it and the debate 
continued all day. 

Several times Mr. Jefferson went over to some 
friend with " They are cutting the life out of the 
paper. They are eliminating my best sentences. ' ' But 
it was not till this paragraph was reached and seemed 
about to be condemned that Mr. Jefferson became much 
excited. It is a part of the arraignment of the King 
of England. * * He has waged cruel war against human 
nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and 
liberty in the persons of a distant people who never 
offended him, capturing and carrying them into slav- 
ery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death 
in their transportation thither. Thi s piracy, the oppro- 
brium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian 
King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a 
market where men should be bought and sold, he pros- 
tituted his negative for suppressing every legisla- 
tive attempt to prohibit or restrain this infamous 
commerce. 

This was a proposition to put Congress on record as 
vigorously opposing the slave trade. Mr. Jefferson 
was earnestly and anxiously in favor of the clause. 

But, two southern States that favored the slave 
trade and some northern states that were profitably 
engaged in catching and selling slaves, united against 
the paragraph and it was stricken out. 



136 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

The document was further amended by Congress in 
a number of respects. Some paragraphs were cut out 
and some new matter inserted, and at 7 o'clock in the 
evening, as amended it was put on its final passage, 
and was unanimously adopted. It was signed by John 
Hancock and Charles Thompson, as President and 
Secretary, but by no one else at that time. 

On August 2, the copy of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence as finally adopted by Congress July 4 was 
brought into the hall and placed on Mr. Thompson's 
desk for inspection and approval. 

John Hancock said, *' Now, gentlemen, the docu- 
ment is ready for your signatures." Some one 
observed '* but you haven't signed." When he 
answered, " as I signed the original document in sign- 
ing the minutes of July 4th, I incur no added responsi- 
bility in signing this copy. ' ' 

Turning to Mr. Carroll he asked " Mr. Carroll, have 
you any objection to signing." Mr. Carroll replied 
'' Not the least. Where shall I sign? " 

Mr. Hancock handed him the quill pen and looking 
over the document Mr. Carroll said, " I will sign 
here, ' ' and he placed his name in the position shown on 
the copy. The other Maryland delegates were present 
and signed, and the signing continued till the thirty- 
five members present had affixed their signatures. The 
document remained in the custody of Mr. Thompson, 
the Secretary, and each day as members appeared 
who had not signed, their attention was called to the 
paper. By September 15 all the signatures were affixed 
except two. One of these signed in December and 
John Dickinson of Pennsylvania declined to sign. He 
was a patriot and in full accord with the w^ork of Con- 
gress, but being a member of the Society of Friends, 
declined to take a step which meant war. 

Few people of the present day have anything like 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 137 

an adequate appreciation of the exalted character, high 
ideals and genuine patriotism of the men who risked 
their all in the cause of independence. 

It is not too much to say that, taken as a whole, their 
equal as a legislative body has been seen in no assem- 
blage in England or America since their time. In the 
qualifications of education, moral character and busi- 
ness capacity they measured well above any similar 
body of their day or since. 

Of the fifty-two signers, all but six were graduates 
of colonial or European colleges, or some one of the 
excellent academies of the times; or were the sons of 
wealthy men who had seen to their education at the 
hands of competent tutors — a custom that was much 
followed at that time. 

In short, all but six were men who began life with 
broad, classical educations. Of the six who commenced 
their careers without such equipment, one was Ben- 
jamin Franklin, probably the best informed man in 
an all-round way of his own or any other age. Another, 
Roger Sherman, began his lifework as a shoemaker, 
but was enough of a scholar in later years to be made 
Treasurer of Yale College; two were surveyors. 
Another, Josiah Bartlett, became Chief Justice of his 
state. Eight of the signers were graduates of Harvard, 
five of Yale, three of William and Mary College, three 
of the College of Philadelphia, two of Princeton, one of 
the College of New Jersey, ten of Oxford, Cambridge 
and other English colleges, while sixteen were liberally 
educated at the smaller colleges and academies or at 
the hands of private tutors. With all our boasted 
educational facilities, where can a body of men be 
found, each so well equipped for the duties of a public 
career ? 

It was of such men that Lord Chatham in the Brit- 
ish House of Lords said: " For myself I will affirm 



138 CHAELES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

that for strength of purpose, wisdom, sagacity and 
force in the face of trying circumstances no men 
or body of men in all history ever equaled that 
Continental Congress at Philadelphia." 

These men were thoroughly imbued with the spirit 
of liberty, and independence, and with the ideas of the 
rights of man as embodied in the writings of the rad- 
ical philosophers of England, France and Germany. 

As late as in 1876 when Hon. John Lee Carroll was 
Governor of Maryland, well thumbed copies of the 
writings of Locke, Hobbs, Selden and Puffendorf in 
English, Latin and German, as well as many French 
books of the same character were to be found in the 
library at Doughoregan Manor where they had been 
used by the illustrious signers of the Declaration of 
Independence. They are probably all there to-day 
bearing the notations and comments of their first 
owner. 

In a home-made blank book of foolscap paper with 
blue pasteboard covers marked in his own hand- 
writing, ^' Some things I want to remember." Mr. 
Carroll had made extracts from and references to 
many of these radical writers. Some comments in this 
book also referred in a half humorous way to a speech 
made in the British Parliament by a member, who 
said, *'If we do not completely crush the Americans 
there is great danger of their coming over here and 
making slaves of us. ' ' 

An effort to unearth this book failed and the present 
Mr. Charles Carroll of CarroUton thought it might be 
in Italy where some of the papers had been taken. 

The comments and extracts showed that even then, 
Mr. Carroll did not entirely agree with Jefferson in 
some of his more radical views. Mr. Carroll thought 
the Declaration of Independence more expressive and 
impressive in the form that it was adopted than it 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 139 

would have been with the sentences that Congress 
struck out. In this view he differed from Adams and 
Franklin whose opinion he freely quoted in this con- 
nection. This book showed above everything else the 
high esteem in which Mr. Carroll held the views of 
Washington on questions of peace as well as of war, 
and how closely the two had cooperated to the very end 
of President Washington's great career. One line in 
this book written after a series of events very depress- 
ing to the Americans read, " The despair of a brave 
people always turns to courage." 

The story is often told that Mr. Carroll wrote his 
name ' ' Charles Carroll, ' ' when some one said, ^ ' I see 
several millions gone by confiscation," and another 
replied, '' Oh, there are several Charles Carrolls." 
Mr. Carroll took his pen and added ' ' of CarroUton. ' ' 
This story is not true. The signer wrote his name 
'' Charles Carroll, of CarroUton," and his cousin 
Charles wrote his ' ' Charles Carroll, barrister. ' ' 

But Mr. Latrobe felt sure of the truth of the dia- 
logue between Judge Chase and Dr. Franklin. When 
twenty-seven had finished signing, Judge Chase 
seriously remarked : ' ' Having taken this step, we must 
hang together." 

Franklin laughingly replied: '' If we don't do that, 
we will hang separately." 

Mr. Latrobe first gave this story to the public as it 
came from Judge Chase himself. 



CHAPTER XIV 

WORK IN STATE AND NATIONAL LEGISLATION — 
DEATH OF FATHER AND WIFE 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton with Samuel Chase 
and John Penn were sent by Congress to the army to 
look fully into its conditions. 

On August 22, Mr. Carroll wrote to Governor John- 
son telling him of the arrival of Howe 's fleet with the 
army on board and thinks he intends to form an 
encampment on the peninsula. He asks if the Assembly 
should be convened. He thinks Howe will recruit his 
army from the disaffected of Delaware and the East- 
ern Shore, and move on Philadelphia. He also gives 
the Governor news of the army of the North. 

The letter mentioned above was written from 
General Smallwood's headquarters. 

Sept. 14th General Smallwood wrote Governor 
Johnson that he was setting out for Philadelphia to 
join General Washington's army and Mr. Carroll 
added a postscript saying he would remain with 
General Smallwood and then either return home or go 
into Congress. 

On the 22d of September he wrote to General Wash- 
ington, making some suggestions and said as Mr. 
Smith, one of the delegates, was going home, he 
would have to go on to Congress to keep the State 
represented. 

On the 27th of September he writes General Washing- 
ton from Lancaster, Pa., making some further sugges- 
tions, and regrets that two officers of the army were 
much addicted to liquor and asks what confidence can 
be reposed in such men. He makes some further sug- 
gestions and adds: " My zeal for our Country, and 

[141] 



142 CHAELES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

my wishes for your success, have compelled me to 
write thus fully on a subject which claims all your 
attention. ' ' 

When the Congress met at Lancaster, Pa., Sept. 27, 
1777, Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Samuel Chase 
were the only Maryland delegates present. Congress 
went to York, Pa., where it assembled on the 30th and 
the Articles of Confederation which had been many 
times under consideration during the Summer were 
taken up. The point of difference was a clause provid- 
ing for representation according to population, every 
50,000 inhabitants to be entitled to a representative. 
The Marylanders opposed the plan and it was defeated 
as were several others of a similar nature. It was 
finally determined that no State should have less than 
two nor more than seven members. Several proposi- 
tions in regard to public lands were considered without 
results. 

The defeat of Burgoyne was a subject of great con- 
gratulation in Congress but Mr. Carroll was at home 
with his family when the news was received. 

On October 22, Charles Carroll of Carrollton wrote 
to Richard Peters, Secretary of the War Board, send- 
ing congratulations on the capture of Burgoyne. This 
letter was written from Doughoregan Manor where 
Mr. Carroll's family and his father were spending 
most of their time. 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton took his seat in the 
Maryland Assembly October 31st. That body had 
been convened at his suggestions made to Governor 
Johnson and had met October 22. Charles Carroll, 
barrister, arrived the 7th of November. 

Daniel Carroll of Rock Creek was elected to the 
Council in October, so that there were now three mem- 
bers of the Carroll family in the State government. 

On December 5th the new delegation to Congress 



DEATH OF FATHER AND AVIFE 143 

was elected. It consisted of Samuel Chase, Wm. Paca, 
George Plater, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Thos. 
Stone and Joseph Nicholson. 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Thomas Stone and 
Brice B. T. Worthington were named as a committee 
of the Senate to unite with one from the House to pre- 
pare rules for the guidance of the Maryland Commis- 
sion which was to meet a similar commission from 
Virginia to settle the boundary disputes. These 
instructions were drawn by Charles Carroll of Car- 
rollton and were reported to the House and Senate 
and being adopted were delivered to the Commission- 
ers. They were very definite and explicit. 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton made his appearance 
in Congress January 17, 1778, accompanied by James 
Forbes, who has been selected in place of William 
Paca, who declined. 

On January 20, Congress resolved to add two mem- 
bers to the committee, which was to repair to the army 
and report on the state of the troops. The two mem- 
bers added to the committee were Charles Carroll of 
Carrollton and Governeur Morris. The three orig- 
inal members were Francis Dana, Joseph Reed and 
Nathaniel Folsom. 

Some changes in the organization of the army were 
deemed advisable by Congress and to this end three 
members of Congress with, three members of the War 
Board, were made a committee to attend at General 
Washington's headquarters and in concert with him 
formulated a plan for the purpose in view. Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton went most exhaustively into 
the matter remaining three months at Valley Forge 
with Washington. General Washington prepared a 
letter of fifty pages embodying the views of himself 
and his officers and this letter was brought to Con- 



144 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

gress by Mr. Carroll and formed the basis of the 
report of this committee. 

April 21st Mr. Carroll writes Governor Johnson 
giving him such information as has come to hand from 
abroad and tells of the doing in Congress and gives 
some news from the army. He also congratulated the 
country on the treaty entered into with France and the 
favorable disposition shown by most European states. 
Congress remained in session till the latter part of 
June and Mr. Carroll was in his seat during this part 
of the session. 

He served on various committees on supplies and in 
regard to other business affairs. 

Congress at this time renewed the extraordinary 
powers conferred on the Commander-in-Chief. These 
powers were of the broadest nature and empowered 
him to use his discretion in all things connected with 
the discipline, subsistence and management of the 
army. The resolutions extending these powers were 
referred to a committee consisting of Charles Carroll, 
of Carrollton, William Duer and John Barrister. 

May 6, Mr. Carroll was on a committee to consider 
letters to the Board of War and later on another com- 
mittee to consider all letters and papers in regard to 
the War sent to Congress. 

Mr. Carroll served on various committees during the 
closing days of the session, all calling for constant 
work and untiring vigilance. Notwithstanding his 
religious convictions he was appointed one of a com- 
mittee of three to consider the Representation of the 
Bishops and Elders of the United Brethren, settled in 
Pennsylvania. He gave this matter careful and 
friendly consideration and prepared a report in 
accordance mth the wishes of the United Brethren. 

After a vigorous discussion of the articles of Con- 
federation, these were adopted but not before some 



DEATH OF FATHER AND WIFE 145 

important amendments in regard to public lands were 
made. 

Mr. Carroll returned to his home July 2d, where a 
great accumulation of private business awaited him 
and where many things connected with the State 
government also needed his attention. 

At the opening of the Maryland Senate in the spring 
of 1778 Charles Carroll of CarroUton was at Valley 
Forge, but Charles Carroll, barrister, was in his seat 
in the Senate. Charles Carroll of CarroUton, however, 
appeared in his place as a Senator at the opening of 
the Fall session, October 29. The duties at home in 
connection with the defense of the province were so 
urgent that Charles Carroll of CarroUton resigned his 
seat in Congress. In the State Senate he was, as 
always, placed on the most important committees. 
The chief of these was the one to prepare instructions 
to Maryland delegates in Congress. In the earlier 
days of our government the States gave full and 
explicit directions to the delegates in Congress on all 
important issues and the delegates were expected to 
vote according to such instructions. 

Mr. Carroll was placed on committees, on providing 
for disabled soldiers and for augmenting the funds of 
the national treasury. But the all absorbing question 
still was to the Articles of Confederation and the 
knotty problem was as to the handling of the public 
lands. 

There was a good deal of friction between the House 
and the Senate and frequent conferences were neces- 
sary. The Senators were addressed as Your Honors 
and the members of the House as Gentlemen. There 
was more or less sarcasm in these conference debates. 

Charles Carroll of CarroUton and Thomas Jennings 
were named to act with a committee of the House for 
amending the criminal law of the State. 



146 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

After resolving that Charles Carroll of Carrollton 
be authorized to revise and correct the minutes, the 
Senate adjourned to meet again March 9, 1779. 

When the Senate met in the spring of 1799 the most 
arduous work of Charles Carroll of Carrollton was to 
straighten out some difficulties in which his friend 
Samuel Chase had plunged. Mr. Chase was such an 
ardent patriot that he could not brook anything that 
looked like conciliation. So he had denounced several 
members of the Senate as *' traitors " because they 
had suggested or spoken of making terms with Great 
Britain. Having made these charges outside, he was 
called to account in the Senate and there repeated 
them, denouncing four or five leading Senators for 
having written letters or spoken in favor of making 
terms. While a resolution was pending Charles Car- 
roll of Carrollton made a pleasing and quieting 
address and succeeded in calming the tumult. 

An effort to increase the pay of members of the 
House and Senate met the vigorous opposition of 
Mr. Carroll who succeeded in defeating the first 
salary grab effort of which we have any record. 

Mr. Carroll was made chairman of a joint commit- 
tee of the Senate and House to sit during recess and 
review and examine the accounts of the State. 

After a little more trouble of the same kind between 
the two branches the body adjourned March 25th but 
was convened in extra session by the Governor, July 
15. 

At the regular fall session both the Charles Car- 
rolls were in their seats and Daniel Carroll was made 
a member of the new council. Thomas Sims Lee was 
elected Governor. 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton served on the supply 
committee and about this time laid before the Senate 
a petition by the Quakers asking certain concessions. 



DEATH OF FATHER AND WIFE 147 

An effort to lay an embargo on grain was made but 
failed on a tie vote. Charles Carroll of Carrollton was 
in favor of it. 

An effort to confiscate the property of all British 
owners was made by the House but the CarroUs 
thought it hasty, ill advised and unnecessary at this 
time. These efforts at confiscation were kept up by 
the House and regularly defeated by the Senate. 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton leading the opposition. 
In a letter to Dr. Franklin, Mr. Carroll says, ' ' I think 
the measure impolitic, contrary to the practice of 
civilized nations, and it may involve us in difficulties 
about making peace." 

Washington had learned with dismay of the deter- 
mination of Charles Carroll of Carrollton to give up 
his seal in Congress and many of his associates felt 
the same way. But Mr. CarroU found it impossible 
to satisfactorily serve in both positions especially as 
the two legislative bodies were frequently in session 
at the same time. Washington wrote deploring 
Mr. Carroll's leaving Congress, saying '* His ideas 
generally concur with mine." But Charles Carroll of 
Carrollton and most of his immediate associates felt 
that there was a higher degree of honor and useful- 
ness in serving as a Maryland Senator than as a dele- 
gate in Congress. 

In a letter to Dr. Franklin in Paris written Decem- 
ber 5, 1779, Charles CarroU of Carrollton tells of the 
doings of the Maryland Assembly and touches earn- 
estly on some national affairs. 

Dr. Franklin always gave great credit to Mr. Car- 
roll for his aid and influence in bringing about and 
maintaining our pleasant and profitable relations with 
France. These two patriots were always in close 
touch and Mr. Carroll's knowledge and influence were 
at the call of his friend in Paris. In telling Dr. Frank- 



148 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

lin of the depreciation of our paper currency, he 
explains that Hyson tea sells at 100s per pound and 
corn 40s a barrel. 

The Maryland Assembly met March 25, 1780, 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton was in his seat in the 
Senate. The friction between the Senate and House 
this time developed over the election of Congressmen, 
but did not prove serious. The confiscation bill was 
again defeated the opposition being led by Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton. The Assembly adjourned May 
15th, but was called in extra session in June when 
resolutions were passed urging Congress to send 
armies to the State for her protection ; and an enroll- 
ment of the militia was ordered. 

At the closing of this session an address to the 
people of the State was ordered and Charles Carroll 
of Carrollton was requested to prepare it. This he 
did and it was adopted by both Houses and issued to 
the people of the State. The address was a stirring 
one closing with * ' The fall of Charleston, and the dis- 
tress of our brave friends in that quarter, have infused 
fresh vigor into the Councils of America. Let us, like 
the Romans of old, draw new resources and increase 
of courage from defeats and manifest to the world 
that we are most to be dreaded when most depressed." 

When the date for the meeting of the Assembly 
October 17 arrived but two Senators were on hand, 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Thomas Stone. It 
was November 2d before eight Senators, making a 
quorum, were present. On the 17th of November an 
election for members of Congress occurred and in his 
absence from the Senate he was elected to the National 
Congress. 

The ever present confiscation act again came up 
and was again defeated under the leadership of Mr. 
Carroll. 



DEATH OF FATHER AND WIFE 149 

Mr. Carroll was appointed on a committee to com- 
municate with the assemblies of Delaware and Vir- 
ginia to secure joint action of the three states in the 
matter of an embargo on grain. 

Maryland had invested £27,000 in Bank of England 
stock, and that institution had protested all the drafts 
for dividends drawn since the troubles began. This 
act of the bank was a strong argument in favor of 
confiscating the property of British people and caused 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton to weaken in his oppo- 
sition to that measure. 

He declined to return to Congress but expressed in 
strong terms his appreciation of the compliment paid 
him in the election. 

When the time came for the second session of the 
Assembly May 19th, Charles Carroll of Carrollton 
and three other Senators only were present. A quo- 
rum was present on the 29th and business proceeded. 
Financial matters and supply bills were the most 
important of the business at hand and these were dis- 
posed of after much discussion and many amendments. 
The alliance with France had been announced greatly 
to the delight of our people. In this work Dr. Franklin 
had received constant and valuable aid from Mr. 
Carroll, which will be mentioned more in detail in 
another chapter. 

Some further revenue acts were passed and also a 
bill providing lands for the officers and soldiers who 
served the State. 

At the opening session April 25, 1782, only Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton and Edward Lloyd of Talbot 
were present as Senators, but George Plater and Col. 
Richard Barnes came a day or two later but it was 
not until May 10th that the Senate could organize with 
a quorum. 

In August, 1781, Mrs. Mary Darnell, the mother of 



150 CHARLES CABROLL OF CARROLLTON 

the wife of Charles Carroll of CarroUton died at 
Doughoregon Manor. This was the first sorrow that 
had come into the life of this active and earnest man. 
He writes that * ' Rev. John Carroll came up to conduct 
the funeral and that the event cast a cloud over them 
all especially Mrs. Carroll." 

In 1780 Eliza, the youngest of the seven children, 
was born, who only lived three years. The other chil- 
dren were Elizabeth, Mary, Louise, Rachel, Charles, 
Ann Brock and Catherine. Charles was born in 1775. 

The death of Mrs. Darnell was soon followed by 
other sorrows in the life of this busy man. In less 
than a year his father had died and also his wife and 
both were laid with Mrs. Darnell under the chapel. 
Thus was he left to pass fifty years of widowerhood. 

In a letter written July 9th he says ' ' I have had the 
misfortune to lose my father and wife within a year 
of each other. My father died, the 30th of May, sud- 
denly, and my wife on the 10th ultimo after a short 
but very painful illness." 

Mr. Carroll, senior, fell from the porch of the house 
and the shock and injuries caused his death and prob- 
ably hastened the end of Mrs. Carroll, his daughter-in- 
law. 

But Charles Carroll, senior, who had educated his 
son with such care and faithfulness and had centered 
so many hopes in his future, remained to see that 
son become the most useful, most highly honored 
and most fully trusted man of Maryland and hardly 
second to any in America. There are few instances of 
such ambition and such hopes being so fully gratified. 



CHAPTER XV 

WITH WASHINGTON AND THE ARMY AT VALLEY 
FORGE — " THE BREWING OF A CONSPIRACY " 

In the fall of 1777 Washington's army, hungry, 
poorly clad, and depressed in spirits was encamped 
at White Marsh, a beautiful spot some seven miles 
from Philadelphia. The army numbered, according to 
the roll, about eleven thousand men, but winter 
always depleted the ranks and the prospects which 
the coming winter held out were more discouraging 
than ever. The Continental Congress was holding its 
sessions at York, Pa., about sixty miles from Phila- 
delphia by way of the old Lancaster road. 

Mr. Carroll, as a member of the Maryland Senate, 
with important matters before it, was kept in Annap- 
olis most of the time. But he made several trips to 
York and twice extended them to White Marsh to 
confer with Washington. 

He saw the conspiracy which John Adams, Samuel 
Adams, Dr. Rush and others were working up and the 
condition gave him great concern. 

General Washington had been contending with innu- 
merable difficulties and was himself well nigh discour- 
aged. His enemies were soon able to have the War 
Board strengthened in numbers by adding to it Gen- 
eral Gates and General Miflin. Gates was made Presi- 
dent of the Board and in a way this made him the 
superior of General Washington, as Washington, in 
reporting to Congress through the War Board had to 
report directly to Gates. This reorganization of the 
War Board, or rather annex to the War Board, went 
into operation October 17, and we find Mr. Carroll 
absenting himself from his other duties to make a visit 

[151] 



152 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

to Washington at White Marsh. At this time the 
British held Philadelphia and General Howe and his 
officers were holding high jinks in the Quaker City. 
He had plenty of supplies brought to him by sea and 
with coin to pay for it, could get all that the thrifty 
Pennsylvania farmers had to sell. But few were so 
patriotic as to prefer the depreciated paper currency 
of the Colonies to the gold and silver which the British 
had to spend. Howe's troops were well fed, well 
clothed and well equipped; and the wonder was with 
Washington and every one else that he did not take 
a few days off from his hilarities and capture the 
entire main army of the Colonies. Conferences of his 
officers and with Mr. Carroll as a member of the War 
Board were held in October and in November and 
preparations were made for a new location for winter 
quarters and Valley Forge, thirteen miles away was 
selected. Mr. Carroll made three trips from York to 
White Marsh in his own gig driven by the faithful 
'Fallon, who accompanied him in nearly all his 
jaunts. From Annapolis to York could be made in 
three days and from York to White Marsh or Valley 
Forge in two days. 

Valley Forge was a well sheltered point protected 
on three sides by its natural location from sudden 
attacks, and it was the best point from which to inter- 
cept an attack on York if Howe took it into his head to 
try to capture the Continental Congress. Weather 
prophets of the locality foretold an early and hard 
winter and their prophecies were promptly and most 
completely fulfilled. It was out of the question to 
expect the men to exist in tents through the winter, 
even if there had been tents enough to furnish lodg- 
ings. But even tents were insufficient and ragged. 

Men were sent ahead and with logs cut from the 
forest constructed rude huts, filling in the crevices 



THE BREWING OF A CONSPIRACY 153 

between the logs with clay or mud. December 11th 
was set for moving the main body of the army. Snow 
had begun to fall on December 3d and the route from 
White Marsh to Valley Forge was marked by stains 
of blood left by the lacerated feet of the soldiers as 
they trudged wearily along. Accommodations for 
3,000 or 4,000 men had been constructed in advance 
but this was barely enough for the sick and disabled. 
The men were not only ragged but almost naked. 
Some had a shirt and no coat, and others only a piece 
of a shirt and wrapped in an old blanket. Never 
before or since has been seen anything called an army 
in such a condition. Washington blamed Congress; 
Congress blamed the quartermaster general and the 
soldiers blamed everybody. The Pennsylvania legis- 
lature at this stage added to the discourage- 
ment by passing a resolution protesting against 
the army going into winter quarters at Valley 
Forge. To this resolution Washington replied, repri- 
manding Gen. Mifflin of Pennsylvania, the quarter- 
master general, and said, " for the want of two days' 
supply of provisions an opportunity scarcely ever 
offered of taking advantage of the enemy that has not 
been either totally obstructed or greatly impeded. 
Men are confined in hospitals or in farmers' houses 
for want of shoes. We have this day (Dec. 23) no 
less than 2,873 men in camp unfit for duty because they 
are barefooted and otherwise naked. Our whole 
strength in continental troops amounts to no more 
than 8,200 men fit for duty. Since the 4th instant our 
numbers fit for duty, from hardships and exposures, 
have decreased nearly 2,000 men. Numbers are still 
obliged to sit all night by fires. Gentlemen reprobate 
going into winter quarters as if they thought the sol- 
diers were made of sticks and stones. I can assure 
these gentlemen that it is much easier and less dis- 



154 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

tressing to draw remonstrances in a comfortable room 
by a good fireside, than to occupy a cold, bleak hill, and 
sleep under frost and snow without clothes or blan- 
kets. However, although they seem to have little feel- 
ing for the naked and the distressed soldiers, I feel 
superabundantly for them, and from my soul I pity 
those miseries which it is neither in my power to 
relieve nor prevent." This condition was brought 
about partly by blundering incompetency, and partly 
as the result of the conspiracy to supersede Washing- 
ton as commander-in-chief, with General Gates. 
Gates had found himself a hero as the result of the 
surrender of Burgoyne, a success for which he was 
less responsible than either Morgan or Benedict 
Arnold. But being the commander he was made the 
recipient of all the credit and was a natural figure on 
which the discontents at Washington could center. 
Gen. Mifflin, being on the Board of War, as well as 
having been made quartermaster general, was in a 
position where his blunders or his treachery would 
work to the disadvantage of General Washington and 
his suffering army. It is said that there were thou- 
sands of cases of shoes and quantities of clothing and 
equipments brought from France, then resting in 
warehouses because MiflBin and the new quarter- 
master's department had not seen to their distribu- 
tion. 

General Washington occupied a farm house as his 
headquarters and to this Mr. Carroll came on his visits 
to the commander-in-chief. 

Washington was criticized in and out of Congress 
for not attacking Howe, who with 20,000 well clothed, 
well nourished, well equipped and well-trained men 
rested complacently in Philadelphia. It was Fabian 
and unexplicable to men like John Adams and others 
that Washington with his 7,000 barefooted, hungry, 



THE BREWING OF A CONSPIRACY 155 

shivering men could not march on and capture this 
army of 20,000. 

The loyalty, faithfulness and unflinching patriotism 
of this ragged and suffering army can never be over- 
estimated. A cordial reception; food, clothes and 
money in Philadelphia awaited any who would desert 
and return to the British allegiance. To their credit it 
is recorded that the desertions were very few, and 
these were nearly all by foreigners who had no special 
interest in the cause. Americans and Irish to a man 
remained faithful in spite of temptation. They had 
an abiding faith in Washington and in the ultimate 
result of their struggles. 

The faction in Congress that was opposed to Gen- 
eral Washington was made up of the same men that 
denounced the French alliance. In fact men like 
Samuel Adams, John Adams and others of their 
clique were about as suspicious of, and as much 
opposed to aid from France as were the Loyalists. 
John Adams, while in Paris, had quarreled with Ver- 
gennes and in other blundering ways had made the 
work of Franklin much harder. All these men made 
Washington, Carroll, and Franklin the special objects 
of their spite. 

During Mr. Carroll's many visits to the army and 
his serious consideration of the difficulties the patriots 
had to meet, he and Washington discussed earnestly 
the fact of a want of proper military training and drill. 
Strange as it may seem the army was in total ignor- 
ance of the rules and maneuvers of war. Mr. Carroll 
saw this condition and the possibilities growing out of 
it, and this was constantly emphasized by Col. Tilgh- 
man, the military secretary of General Washington. 
Tilghman said " not one of the men is a soldier till 
he puts his gun to his shoulder and then he's a 
wonder," and strangest of all there was no man to 



156 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

drill them. The few men capable were above accept- 
ing the post of drillmaster. In this dilenmia Tilgh- 
more was directed to write to France hoping to get the 
right man. The country was overrun with French 
officers willing to be major generals and clamoring 
about their rank in the French army, but there was 
none among them suited to the job in hand, who 
would take it. Tilghman wrote to the ever ready 
Beaumarchais. 

The right man was found in Steuben. He had no 
great desire to come and besides was only a Colonel. 
To properly impress Congress and secure him such 
an appointment as was necessary more than a Colonel 
must be found. In the colonies Colonels were as plenty 
as blacksmiths and generally not half as useful. 
Beamnarchais had got the French court deeply inter- 
ested in the effort. So Steuben was made a Lieutenant 
General of the Margraviate of Baden, and with this 
title as an endorsement he was induced to sail for 
America. He had been with Frederick the Great, and 
had received the training, and had imbibed the dis- 
cipline of the Prussian Army. It was also necessary 
that he should come as an enthusiastic patriot like 
LaFayette. He was induced to meet all these require- 
ments and he did so to the satisfaction of his French 
and American associates. Congress agreed to make 
him Inspector General of the Army. He proved to be 
all that had been looked for in such a capacity. He 
was most indefatigable and successful in drilling the 
men ; and though his indifferent English, and his ges- 
ticulations were amusing to the men, they caught his 
ideas and quickly profited by his instructions. He 
formed the officers into squads, took the musket into 
his own hands and had the officers do the same as he 
taught them the manual of arms as used in the army 
of Prussia. He soon had squads of fine drill masters 



THE BREWING OF A CONSPIRACY 157 

and the army right quickly began to show the effect 
of his laborious efforts. This drilling and training of 
the men began in early spring. Mr. Carroll spent the 
entire time from late in February till nearly the first 
of May with the army. He saw the result on the men ; 
both in exhilaration of spirits and in the increased 
efficiency shown. Young Tilghman was delighted, and 
as he was from Mr. Carroll's state and a close rela- 
tive of one of his co-workers in the senate Mr. Carroll 
was pleased also on his account. General Washington, 
who always shared confidences with his fellow officers, 
and gave due weight to all their suggestions was 
pleased at his enthusiasm and gave due credit to 
Colonel Tilghman for having so earnestly urged the 
bringing over of such a man as Steuben. One of 
Steuben's main troubles was in the pronunciation of 
his name. Steuben raved at having his name pro- 
nounced as spelled and did'nt like the accent on the 
last syllable. '' He would say I am not a Stew nor yet 
a Ben " and then he would pronounce it as if it were 
spelled '' Stoiban " with accent on the '' Stoi." But 
it was no use ; to the soldiers ' ' Steuben ' ' he was and 
*' Steuben " he remained. 

Mr. Carroll arrived at Vally Forge a couple of days 
in advance of Steuben and was on hand to help receive 
him. His proficiency in the French and German 
languages made him useful in presenting the neAv- 
comer to his comrades, and in explaining conditions 
so novel to the European as to make them almost inex- 
plicable. But Steuben was likable and pleasing in all 
things. He took in the situation and at once went 
enthusiastically at his work. 

About the time of the arrival of Steuben and Mr. 
Carroll at Valley Forge a condition arose which gave 
General Washington great concern. He was a man 
with a keen sense of justice and shrunk from exercis- 



158 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

ing an arbitrary power to the loss of some one else. 
He was clothed by Congress with authority to seize 
food and to exercise such power as might be necessary 
in providing for the needs of the army; but always 
hesitated about exercising that arbitrary power. But 
now food was absolutely necessary. The Pennsyl- 
vania farmers were not only Loyalists to a great 
extent but, the gold and silver of Howe was too much 
of a temptation to be ignored. So with only paper 
money to offer, his quartermasters could not secure 
provisions of any kind from the farmers. Under these 
circumstances detachments were sent out in every 
direction and scoured the country for food. They 
found enough to meet pressing requirements much to 
the disgust of the thrifty farmers who were smuggling 
it to Howe whenever opportunity offered. 

While actual sufferings were being so heroically 
endured at Valley Forge the officers were constantly 
regaled with stories of the regal entertainments Howe 
and his officers were giving. With supplies in profu- 
sion from abroad, the wine cellars of rich Philadel- 
phians at his command, and the farmers bringing in 
their produce, the British in Philadelphia were enjoy- 
ing the best that two continents could afford, and they 
capped the climax of festivities in May by giving the 
*' Mischianza," a great pagent and regatta during the 
day and a ball at night. Lurid accounts of their 
doings reached the patriots in Valley Forge and did 
not tend to make them more contented. But they did 
enjoy one big piece of news. On the very day the 
British officers, twenty-two miles away, were cele- 
brating *' the Mischianza " Washington received the 
news of the signing of the treaty with France. The 
ragged and tattered troops under directions of the 
assiduous Steuben were paraded and as they dis- 
played their newly acquired efficiency in drill they 



THE BREWING OF A CONSPIRACY 159 

received the announcement of the good news from 
Paris. The French officers, of whom there were many 
in camp, headed by young LaFayette, received the 
thanks, good wishes and congratulations of the Ameri- 
can officers and the men cheered and cried out * ' Long 
live the King of France," " long live the Friendly 
Powers of Europe," and the French officers echoed 
back ** long live the United States of America " and 
** Long live General Washington, the Conomander- 
in-Chief of their forces." Mr. Carroll who had 
returned to his seat in Congress at York missed this 
scene but he had full accounts of it in letters from 
his friends. 



£^t.-!*5 




Hon. JoTTx Lee Carroll 
Governor of Maryland in 1876 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE CONWAY CABAL. CHARLES CARROLL OF CAR- 
ROLLTON FOILS THE CONSPIRACY TO DISPLACE 
WASHINGTON 

In order to give a more connected idea of the troubles 
which Mr. Carroll and the other friends of Washington 
had been encountering it is necessary to go back a 
little and repeat some of the things already told. The 
conspiracy against Washington had been seething 
since sometime before the surrender of Burgoyne, but 
that event so upset Gates that a new and powerful 
impetus was given and by reason of the connection of 
Gen. Conway, an Irish officer, with the affair, it came 
to be called " The Conway Cabal " and it is so known 
in history though Conway was one of the least import- 
ant of the conspirators. 

The "■ Conway Cabal," which gathered together all 
the discontents and reckless ambitions of the army, 
was one of the most formidable attempts ever made 
to destroy a public man. The complaint against 
Washington was that he was slow, dull and heavy; 
and that he was incompetent for any military com- 
mand; and it was re-enforced by the clamor and the 
plots of such men as Gates, Adams, Rush and Mifflin. 
This kind of opposition followed him in a nagging 
way all through the Revolution. 

Gates was so elated over his success in the capture 
of Burgopie ; or rather over the success — for credit 
belonged less to him than to the commanders under 
him; that he determined to ignore Washington en- 
entirely. Instead of reporting to the commander-in- 
chief he sent this message Hirect to Congress, " With 

[161] 

6 



162 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

an army in health, vigor and spirits Major General 
Gates now awaits the commands of the honorable 
Congress," and Congress in spite of the efforts of the 
friends and supporters of Washington appointed 
Gates to regain the forts and passes on the Hudson 
River which Washington had already regained by 
pressing Howe so closely that he had been compelled 
to evacuate them. Gates refused to obey Washington 
and send his now unnecessary troops to reinforce the 
main army. Even Congress refused permission for 
Washington to withdraw more than 2,500 troops 
from Gates, and those Gates refused to send for some 
time, even after Hamilton had gone north and made a 
personal appeal. A motion was made in Congress 
that he should not detach any troops except with the 
permission of Gates. Both John Adams and Samuel 
Adams and some six others of the clique voted for it, 
but men like Carroll, Morris and Chase were able to 
defeat it. 

The Maryland delegates in Congress had been in- 
structed to urge the confederation of the Colonies and 
after much friction and many difficulties this was 
accomplished on November 15, 1777. Mr. Carroll had 
come up for his conference with Washington to take 
part in this effort. Questions of taxation, public lands, 
rights of state had to be fought out and were fought 
out in a way that laid a permanent foundation for the 
more stable union that followed. Mr. Carroll had 
early imbibed those principles that called for a strong 
federal government; and that made him a staunch 
Federalist after the first division into parties came. 
This alliance of the great Marylander was one of 
principle entirely, for his friendships and personal 
feeling were much more for the people that opposed 
the Federalists. One close to Mr. Carroll said that he 
despised John Adams, while admiring his principles; 



FOILS THE CONSPIRACY 163 

and he admired Jefferson, while despising his princi- 
ples. A kind of government was formed by these arti- 
cles of confederation, but it was a government without 
vitality or force. It could not levy a tax, raise a 
soldier, or keep its engagements with foreign powers. 
But it was a beginning ; a frail one, it is true ; but the 
beginning of a governmental structure nevertheless. 
Mr. Carroll was one of those who bemoaned its weak- 
ness, but accepted it as the best that could be secured. 

Having given his time to Congress when it seemed 
absolutely necessary to do so, Mr. Carroll was ap- 
pointed on a committee to visit Valley Forge and 
confer with Washington as to the work of reorganiz- 
ing the army. The committee was made up mainly 
of Washington's friends. When this committee was 
appointed the conspiracies against Washington were 
seething. There was one suggestion that Congress 
should send a committee of officers to Valley Forge 
with orders to arrest Washington, depose him from 
command, and bring him as a prisoner before Con- 
gress. The conspirators had counted their supporters 
and felt they were about even, when the arrival of 
Gouverneur Morris put them in a minority. The 
story is told that before going to Valley Forge Dr. 
Benjamin Rush said to Mr. Carroll, ** so you are 
going to Valley Forge to look into the conduct of 
Washington. I hope you will feel that he ought to be 
deposed." 

'' I shall not," answered Mr. Carroll. ^' Is'nt that 
rendering a verdict before you have heard the testi- 
mony," asked Rush. 

*' It is, and I have " answered the friend of Wash- 
ington. Then Rush went on, *' But it may be necessary 
to put a man like Gen. Gates at the head of the army. 
If so I hope he w^ould receive the same loyal support 
from you that you have given to Gen. Washington." 



164 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Mr. Carroll then said, deliberately and weighing his 
words carefully, " Li that case I should wash my 
hands of the whole affair and retire to private life. 
I would leave this country or not as circumstances 
required; but I would have nothing more to do with 
this cause." 

Everything possible had been done and was being 
done to nag and annoy Washington into resigning. 
He repeatedly said that if there was a demand by the 
people for him to retire from the position he had not 
sought, and which had been fraught with labor, care, 
anxiety and hardship, he would gladly resign ; but he 
would not retire in the face of a factional opposition. 

While he w^as facing Howe at White Marsh and 
driving back a well equipped, w^ell fed, wxll disciplined 
army of twice his numbers with his ragged, foot sore 
and sick band of Continentals and trying to secure 
them the possibilities of mere existence through the 
winter, he was facing the opposition of the Pennsyl- 
vania legislature, the careless improvidence of a 
treacherous quartermaster general, and the work of 
this band of conspirators in the Congress at York. 
Little wonder that he and his friends were well nigh 
discouraged. 

General Conway was an Irish officer serving with 
the French. He had grown up in France, been edu- 
cated there and had attained high rank in the French 
army. But he was one of the host that came over 
seeking high commissions and important commands. 
He wrote Congress almost demanding a promotion 
to a Major Generalship. Mr. Carroll on the floor of 
Congress opposed the promotion and denounced Con- 
way in strong terms. The effort to supplant Wash- 
ington was then well under way and Mr. Carroll 
seeing in this attempted promotion of Conway a move 
of the conspirators defeated it. The following letter 



FOILS THE CONSPIRACY 165 

from Conway to Carroll is on file in the State Depart- 
ment and shows Conway's bitterness towards the 
friend of Washington. 

To Charles Carroll of Carrollton — 

The Congress, York, Pa. 

Sir. — This day I have sent my resignation to 
Congress. Seven weeks ago several gentlemen 
wrote to me from the seat of Congress, mention- 
ing the extraordinary discourses held by you, 
Sir, by Mr. Lovell, Mr. Duer, and some other 
members on account of my applying for the rank 
of major general. If I had barkened to well 
grounded resentment, I should have undoubtedly 
have left the army instantly. But my delicacy 
pointed out to me to continue in the army until 
the end of the campaign; this I have done. I 
look upon the campaign as finished, for I am 
pretty clear that since the enemy is reinforced, 
and has had time to secure his front with a 
double line of fortifications, nothing can be at- 
tempted with any degree of safety, propriety, or 
appearance of success. Now, Sir, I will under- 
take to show that my request of being made a 
major general had nothing in it so unreasonable 
as to cause your astonishment, and the most dis- 
obliging reflections, thrown by you. Sir, and 
other members of Congress. 

Of all the French officers who came to this con- 
tinent, I am the most advanced in rank, and the 
only field officer bearing rank in actual service. 
Chevalier De Barre was a lieutenant colonel in 
1757 ; he was thanked in 1761 ; if he had continued 
in service he would be now a major general in the 
French army, and mentioned in Military Kalendar, 
which is printed every year, and wherein every 
officer bearing rank, from the Marechal of France 
to the last sub-lieutenant, is carefully mentioned. 
Baron De Kalb got a commission of lieutenant 
colonel, and left the army in 1762. If he had been 



166 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

continued in ser\dce and had borne a rank in our 
army, he would be in the center of our brigadiers, 
but I am very certain that you will find neither of 
these gentlemen in the Kalendar, because they 
have no rank in the army, and, indeed, did not 
interfere with it these sixteen years past. 

'* I am told that Baron De Kalb had a brevet of 
of brigadier from the Minister of the Navy, such 
as was obtained by Mr. Ducoudray and some of 
his officers. Whether he had or not, I am still 
certain that this brevet cannot give him the rank 
over me in the French army, because there has 
never been an instance of it in our service. I 
always appeal to the Military French Kalendar, 
which is the true standard of rank. It was in order 
to guard against those sham brevets, for which I 
understood that some people were apphdng, that 
I made with Mr. Deane the only condition which 
is to be found in my agreement. The condition 
was that no officer who had not an equal rank 
with me in actual service should be put over me. 
Mr. Deane promised it to me, and told me, in 
taking me by the hand, that I was the only 
gentleman who had not taken advantage of his 
present situation. 

He directed me to encourage and bring over 
Bome officers of the Irish Brigades. I got one 
hundred and sixty guineas for that purpose. I 
gave eighty-four guineas to two officers who 
came over wdth me, and whose receipts I can 
produce. Seventy-six guineas I sent to four 
officers of the Irish Brigade, who were pre- 
vented from embarking on account of the 
noise made about the Amphitrite. I charged 
nothing for myself, although my expences to come 
to this country amounted to above one hundred 
and twenty guineas; although I am now in the 
case of selling my effects in order to reach some 
seaport. But I will not dwell upon the article of 
cash. After Mr. Ducoudray had left me in Port 
Lorient last January, I got charge of the Amphi- 
trite, and of the letters for Congress, which letters 



FOILS THE CONSPIRACY 167 

I delivered to Colonel Langdon upon my landing 
at Portsmouth. The captain of the Amphitrite 
had positive orders to sail for St. Domingo, and 
the Commissary of the Navy Board at Port 
Lorient had made him sign a formal promise not 
to come to this continent. He was determined 
to follow his orders; in order to make him alter 
his determination, I gave him a certificate by 
which I acknowledged that by violence I com- 
pelled him to infringe the King's positive orders, 
and steer for this continent. The captain is now 
in possession of the certificate. If France does 
not take an active part or a public one in the 
present contest, the captain of the Amphitrite, 
which ship has caused such loud complaints from 
Lord Stormont, will be brought to account for 
disobedience; he will have my certificate to pro- 
duce; I may fall a sacrifice to policy, lose my 
rank, and the prospect of speedy promotion in 
France, and the fruits of thirty years' constant 
service. 

At my arrival here M. De Barre, my inferior 
in rank, who got six hundred thousand livres in 
France, was made a brigadier, and paid as such 
from the month of December, when I was 
appointed the last brigadier of the army. After 
the battle of Brandywine, Baron De Kalb, also 
my inferior, who got about a thousand pounds 
here or in France, was a major general. If I 
patiently bore such repeated wrongs, it might be 
concluded in France that I misbehaved; and 
indeed the Congress instead of looking upon me 
as an officer who enjoyed some esteem and reputa- 
tion in the French infantry, must take me for a 
vagabond who flew here to get bread. I thank 
God that neither one nore the other is the case. 
I came over here because I liked the cause and 
like it still; because I was often and warmly 
invited by Mr. Deane. My candid way of acting 
with him will testify it. As to my behaviour I 
appeal to the army. 



168 CHARLES CARROLL OP CARROLLTON 

The French gentleman told me, Sir, that you 
asked in a most despising manner what I had 
done. Lideed, I must confess that I did not do 
all that I wish to have done, but I hope I have done 
as much as left in my power. As I am not 
acquainted with your gazette writers, I must tell 
you that upon my arrival in camp I was night 
and day employed in writing instructions con- 
cerning the camp, the outguards, the orders of 
marches, of which I found not the least notion in 
this army. Part of those instructions was fol- 
lowed, the greatest part was not; this is not my 
fault. I wrote several plans about the economical 
administration of this army where I saw many 
striking abuses. I am confident that this army 
is sufficient (if) not to ruin, at least to distress 
the continent, whereas, it could be kept upon a 
flourishing footing in saving one-third part of the 
money spent upon it. As (it) seems I have not 
been understood, at least I saw no alteration for 
the better. 

At the Short Hills I was first ready, and first 
attacked, drew up my brigade in battle, stopped 
the enemy, and made my retreat without running, 
and without losing a single prisoner. The other 
brigade had been attacked an hour after mine, 
and I think I had given it full time to retreat. 
At BrandyAvine ray brigade remained the last 
upon the ground, and though I had been aban- 
doned pretty early by the brigades of the right 
and left, my brigade continued fighting until it 
was flanked on both sides by the enemy. That 
same brigade was the first or rather the only 
brigade that rallied to oppose the enemy's pur- 
suit, when for want of ammunition it was ordered 
to be relieved at the close of the evening by a 
French brigade which had not yet been engaged. 
At Germantown, with little better than four hun- 
dred men, I began the attack, and was fighting 
three-quarters of an hour before any individual 
came to support me. 



FOILS THE CONSPIRACY 169 

You asked upon what grounds I could call 
for the rank of major general. Because I can 
be more useful at the head of a division than at 
the head of a small brigade. Because in my 
young days I had a larger command before the 
enemy than what I have had in your army. 
Because being those twenty years constantly 
studying military operations, having traveled 
through Europe to take a view of the different 
armies, having been lately employed in making 
out a set of field manoeuvers, having practiced 
and tried said manoeuvres last year in the 
presence of several experienced generals, both 
German and French, I thought myself more 
qualified to command a division than such major 
generals who had never seen a line of battle as 
they confess themselves, before Brandywine and 
and as it too well appeared. 

It was for want of knowledge and practice 
in forming the lines that Brandywine was partly 
lost. I can assign many other reasons for the loss 
of that battle. It was for want of forming the 
line and of manoeuvering that we miscarried at 
Germantown, our left wing, composed of the 
largest part of our army, ha\ang lost near an 
hour in an useless counter march, as it appears 
by the several testimonies given at a court-mar- 
tial now sitting, of which I am a member. I am 
far from thinking myself a general, but I believe 
that after having studied and practiced this trade 
steadily during almost all my life, I may venture 
to say that I know somewhat more of it than the 
brave, honest men who never made it their busi- 
ness. I have much regard for Baron De Kalb 
and think that the continent has made in him the 
acquisition of a good officer, but I can venture to 
say that I have gone through and seen at least as 
much service as he did. 

This letter, Sir, if you have patience to read 
it, will convince you that my request of being 
made a major general was not altogether as imper- 
tinent as you, sire, and other gentlemen have 



170 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

styled it. I was much surprised at the reflections 
which you made upon the subject, as I am con- 
scious that I have done nothing in my life that 
could make me contemptible in the eyes of any 
honest man. I suppose that your strange opinion 
of me originates from the misfortune I have of 
not being better known to you. However, I shall 
always cherish the cause I have fought for, and 
shall be very happy to hear of its success. 
I am, with much regard. Sir, 

Your obedient, humble servant, 

T. Conway. 

As is usual in such cases Mr. Carroll was constantly 
reminded of the religion of Conway and support of 
the man asked on that account. But such appeals had 
no effect on a patriot like Mr. Carroll. They were 
usually made too, by men who had no sympathy with 
the religious faith of the great signer. 

The movement to reorganize the War Board or 
rather to name an annex to it with General Gates as 
President was made while Mr. Carroll was in attend- 
ance on the Maryland Senate. They did not dare go 
as far as to supplant him but sought to make his 
efforts less effective, by increasing the size of the 
board and making General Gates the President. The 
scope of this annex or new membership was not very 
clearly defined. But Gates and Mifflin, the two mili- 
tary members, w^ere stoutly against Washington. Mr. 
Carroll got to York on the day that Congress was dis- 
cussing the matter of reorganizing the army. He saw 
that the chief end of this reorganization was to injure 
Washington. Instead of opposing it he fell in with 
the idea of a committee to go to Valley Forge and 
study the conditions and learn the requirements. This 
committee was appointed and of course Mr. Carroll 
headed it, and he secured a committee mainly friendly 
to his views. 



FOILS THE CONSPIRACY 171 

It was in the discharge of the duties of this com- 
mittee that he spent so much time at Vally Forge 
during the winter. 

General Conway after his disappointment at not 
being promoted rallied the discontents and took chatf^e h '' 
of the effort to have Gates supplant Washington, feut 
he had not the discretion of the others. Success 
depended on keeping the matter from reaching Wash- 
ington till the plans were further matured. Conway 
talked, gesticulated and shrugged his shoulders so 
much that his secret was soon in the air. Then Wilken- 
son, a staff officer of Gates in a drunken brawl blurted 
it out. About the same time anonymous letters reached 
the president of Congress, Patrick Henry and others 
telling what could be accomplished by the army, '* if 
it had a man at its head like Gates, Mifflin or Con- 
way." These letters were sent to Washington at 
Valley Forge where the faithful Tilghman read them 
to Washington and Carroll and the three discussed 
the situation. Washington merely wrote to Gates and 
Mifflin letting them know that the information had 
reached him, and the conspiracy collapsed. Mr. Lat- 
robe said that though Mr. Jefferson was not person- 
ally friendly to Mr. Carroll and was on the opposite 
side of the political division that followed, he always 
insisted that the conspiracy against Washington 
would have succeeded if it had not been for the loyalty 
and vigilance of Mr. Carroll. Colonel Tilghman went 
further and said he knew that it was Mr. Carroll that 
had saved the day. But Tilghman 's admiration and 
love for Mr. Carroll might have warped his judgment. 
He came from Maryland and was a nephew of Mat- 
thew Tilghman one of Mr. Carroll's closest workers 
in the Maryland Senate. 

Mifflin urged that Conway be made Inspector Gen- 
eral of the army wdth the rank of Major General. 



172 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Wayne expressed his determination to follow the lead 
of Gates and Mifflin. Conwa}^, to advance his intrigue 
tendered his resignation to Congress and offered to 
Gates as President of the War Board his services to 
form a plan for the instruction and better discipline 
in the army. Lovell of Massachusetts wrote to Gates, 
* ' the army will be totally lost unless you come down 
and collect the virtuous band who wish to fight under 
your banner." Gates wrote to Conway a letter that 
showed him to be fully cognizant of, and a party to 
the conspiracy. All this was going on at a time when 
Washington's army was suffering for food and cloth- 
ing through the treachery of Mifflin with the con- 
nivance of the others. 

Once when some one said that Mr. Carroll's loyalty 
and watchfulness had saved the day for Washington 
he replied, '' Oh, there's Tilghman. Don't forget 
Tilghman. Washington was so straightforward and 
earnest that he never suspected treachery. But Tilgh- 
man was alert, always watchful and the most wise of 
them could not circumvent Tilghman." 

And he added, '' I prepared the resolution of Con- 
gress presenting the young man with a horse, saddle, 
bridle and sword, in the name of the people of the 
United States, and I never wrote a paper that came 
more directly from my heart than did that resolu- 
tion." Colonel Tilghman was an aid on Washington's 
staff and as military secretary to the general was in 
a position where his fidelity and watchfulness were 
useful. 

The Cabal collapsed completely and afterwards all 
were heartily ashamed of it. Even Conway, when he 
thought he was about to die, wrote an apology to 
Washington for the part he had taken. 



CHAPTER XVn 

THE PEACE OP PARIS AND CONDITIONS LEADING TO 
THE FRENCH ALLIANCE 

No chapter in American history has been as much 
written and none is as poorly understood as that 
which relates to the friendship of France for the 
colonies, the assistance secretly given, and the alliance 
that followed. 

The Peace of Paris in 1763 left France beaten, 
humiliated, and deeply in debt. England on the con- 
trary, flushed with success, was naturally arrogant, 
dominating and many times unreasonable. The 
Seven Years' War had been a glorious period for 
British armies. On land and sea they had been vic- 
torious. Her generals and her admirals had returned 
as conquering heroes, and the Peace of Paris was 
made entirely on terms laid down by British States- 
men. 

France had been required to give up Canada, Cape 
Breton, Acadia and many of her island possessions, 
and had been compelled to submit to the humiliating 
condition that Dunkirk, her great coast defense city 
should level her fortifications. And more than this; 
she had to submit to the presence of a British Com- 
missioner, who should reside in Dunkirk to see that no 
move was made looking to rebuilding them. 

Beaten down and deeply humiliated as they were, 
the French statesmen had not all given up hope of 
evening things with England, their enemy from an 
e^ly day. Mr. Carroll was in both London and Paris 
when the subject of the Seven Years' War was under 
constant discussion. He heard every phase pre- 
sented; and saw the question from every possible 

[173] 



174 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

angle. A close student of economics, the science of 
government, as well as the history of the times and 
prospectively the wealthiest man of America; he was 
questioned, consulted, persuaded, and posted by every 
party in both England and France. 

From the time of the first Stamp Act and the kin- 
dred legislation of the period ; and the restlessness that 
followed, he had felt sure that a great war between 
England and the American Colonies had to come ; and 
he believed that the colonies were destined soon to 
become a great country independent of Great Britain. 
Feeling this with such positiveness, his every effort 
was in promoting the best interests of the colonies in 
preparing for the conflict he saw so clearly. 

He became well acquainted with Vergennes, after- 
wards head of the French Department of Foreign 
Affairs, but at that time Minister to Turkey, and 
later to Sweden. A close relative of Vergennes, 
either a younger brother or a nephew, was a classmate 
of Mr. Carroll at LeGrand College in Paris; and 
he was thus enabled to have frequent and friendly 
talks ^yith both the Vergennes in respect to the condi- 
tions and aspirations of the colonies. In this way he 
laid the foundations of the warm friendship Vergen- 
nes constantly showed to the colonies. 

In England while his close association was with 
Pitt, Burke and other Whig leaders, he also frequently 
met and heard the views of statesmen like Lord North 
and Germain, and pamphleteers like Ben Johnson. 
In fact he let no opportunity escape, where it was 
possible to learn a fact or make a friend that might 
be useful to the colonies. With the foundation thus 
laid and such a fund of information, there is no won- 
der that he early began to scheme for a French 
alliance. 

This friendship and alliance was planned, promoted 



THE PEACE OF PARIS 175 

and consummated by three men Washington, Frank- 
lin and Carroll. Others who helped were mere instru- 
ments in the hands of the trio that did the work. Both 
Washington and Franklin thought at first that Mr. 
Carroll should go to France as a commissioner but 
both fully agreed with him afterwards that this would 
not be politic or advantageous. In a talk with them 
in the early stages of the effort Mr. CarroU said, " I 
am the one man that must be kept entirely in the back- 
ground. It must not be known to a single soul that I 
am personally active in this matter." 

Arthur Lee, the first commissioner sent to France 
made no progress and really did our cause harm. 
Through Mr. Carroll Washington had been able to 
give Lee many valuable leads and to put him in close 
touch with the right influence and interest. By this 
time the people of the colonies were resting their 
hopes of success mainly on Washington himself. The 
Congress was weak, vascillating, and impatient; with- 
out power to do much ; and many eminent men on this 
account refused a membership in the body. Mr. Car- 
roll, though most of the time a member of both the 
State and National bodies, evidently always attached 
greater importance to his position as a Maryland 
Senator than to anything the United Colonies or the 
United States could offer. But Lee went to Paris as a 
Commissioner of the Congress and with letters and 
instructions from Washington. His only progress was 
with Vergennes and those that surrounded him. In 
this he had the advantage of the friendly feeling 
created by Mr. Carroll. The long journey to Canada 
gave Mr. Carroll and Dr. Franklin the opportunity to 
go freely and frequently into all phases of the French 
situation. This they did with such frequency and 
earnestness that Judge Chase, their fellow Commis- 
sioner to Canada several times reminded them that it 



176 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

was the Canadian situation rather than the French 
scheme that required immediate attention. Franklin 
and Silas Deane were sent as additional Commis- 
sioners to France, and Franklin went with every bit 
of information and every argument that Mr. Carroll 
could give him. 

Mr. Carroll never agreed with those who attri- 
buted sordid or other improper motives to either Lee 
or Deane. He believed Lee to have been irascible and 
temperamentably unfit for the work and regarded 
Deane as a good merchant, but wanting in elements of 
diplomacy or tact. Dr. Franklin did the work and 
did it on lines laid out by Mr. Carroll and supported 
by Washington. 

Those were days of bitter prejudices on religious 
matters. No one understood this better than Mr. Car- 
roll. He felt that if it was understood and known that 
a Roman Catholic was exerting himself to influence a 
Catholic King to come to the aid of the country, a howl 
of Romanism would go up from every quarter of the 
land. Not only would the Loyalist party use it to the 
disadvantage of the Patriots, but half the Patriot 
party would rather see the cause lost than be under 
obligations to a Catholic country and a Catholic King 
for success. 

Among the loyalists the French Alliance was 
regarded as a horror and an infamy far worse than 
the Declaration of Independence. That Protestant 
colonists should ally themselves for the purpose of 
making war upon their own faithful and loving 
mother, England, was a depth of degradation to which 
they declared, they had thought it impossible for 
Americans to descend. They saw in it nothing but 
ruin, and the Romanizing of America under despotic 
government. 



THE PEACE OF PAEIS 177 

John Adams who did harm in France by his 
blundering and John Jay, able patriot and bigot as he 
was, could not understand the alliance or the causes 
which brought it about. And, as it was, the loyalists 
screamed Romanism every time the aid of France 
was mentioned and insisted that if Louis XVI helped 
us, he would exact a cession of territory on this con- 
tinent as a reward. After the treaty with France was 
concluded showing the greatest magnanimity which 
one nation ever extended to another, men like Jay and 
Adams believed for a time that there must be some 
secret clause or private understanding which would 
insure to France some substantial return; and which 
would in some way be to our disadvantage, or to the 
advantage of the Catholic Church. So narrow were 
the prejudices of the day that men broad and able in 
other matters, could see the image of the Pope in 
every shadow that flitted across their paths. 

On account of this peculiar condition Mr. Carroll 
resolved to keep entirely out of the public eye so far 
as possible where the alliance was concerned, but men 
like Mr. J. H. B. Labrobe and others who knew, 
believed that the friendship of France never could 
have been secured nor the alliance formed but for the 
effective work done by Mr. Carroll. Mr. Bushrod 
Washington, who had talked the matter over many 
times with his brother, was clearly of the same 
opinion, and in the expression of this he doubtless 
reflected the views of General Washington himself. 

Mr. Carroll was with Washington during the war 
more than any other man in civil life. During the 
terrible days of Valley Forge, Mr. Carroll spent 
months with the great Commander, aiding him with 
his presence, advice, and money. 

When Charles Carroll of Carrollton returned to the 
Province of Maryland in 1765, he found George 



178 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Washington one of the close friends of the family. 
The intimacy then commenced, extended without a 
break until the death of the great Virginian. 

Mr. Latrobe also firmly believed that if the Conway 
Cabal had succeeded in removing General Washing- 
ton, Mr. Carroll would have withdrawn his support 
from the cause; that the French aid and alliance 
would have been lost and that the whole effort at 
independence would have collapsed. Mr. Latrobe 
received much of his information from Mr. Carroll, 
but also had a great deal from his father, who was 
an active and efficient participant in the events of 
those days. And above all he had the opportunity 
of going over the whole matter, fully and freely with 
LaFayette. This he did not casually as the average 
man might, but with the care of a trained writer and 
thinker, who was preparing the life of Charles Carroll 
of Carrollton. 

LaFayette knowing this and out of the esteem he 
had for his friend, the elder Latrobe, gave the young 
man the advantage of every detail he could recall and 
on his return to France sent him copies of many 
papers which he thought might be of interest in con- 
nection with the work on which he was engaged. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

FURTHER DETAILS OF THE FRIENDSHIP OF, AND 
ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE 

In tracing our relations with France, the next step 
introduces to us one of the most interesting characters 
ever presented even by France, the country of inter- 
esting people. This is Seur de Beaumarchais, our 
first friend at the French court in a practical way. 

Beaumarchais, though much berated and quite as 
much envied, was a very remarkable man. His real 
name was Carnon. He was the son of a watchmaker 
and learned that trade himself. Though the second 
son, he was selected to follow in the footsteps of his 
father, and carry on the business. He turned out to 
be a most excellent mechanic and made some valuable 
inventions in the construction of watches. The Carnon 
watches became famous and the most distinguished 
people of France came to his shop. But making time 
pieces was altogether too slow an occupation for this 
gifted and ambitious young man. He took the name of 
Beaumarchais, bought fashionable clothes, got intro- 
ductions; and introduced himself into society, and 
soon became every where a favorite. He studied 
languages, science and history. Naturally brilliant 
and thoroughly accomplished he soon became a 
favorite and succeeded in winning his way to royal 
favor. By the year 1774, he had attained a position 
where he not only was received in court circles, but 
was one of the most influential of those that had the 
ear of Louis XVI. Mr. Carroll never met Beau- 
marchais but knew him well through La Fon, one of 
the men who looked after the Carroll interests in Paris 
as Perkins did in London. La Fon saw in Beau- 

[179] 



180 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

marchais a man who could be of great use in helping 
the cause of the colonies. Able, resolute, romantic and 
ambitious, the colonial situation appealed to him and 
he studied it assiduously and carefully. His interest 
and influence were reported to this country and 
La Fon put him in touch with Arthur Lee, the Colonial 
Commissioner in Paris. But the two did not get on 
well. That is Lee did not get on well with Beau- 
marchais. But La Fon encouraged and cultivated the 
latter, and he presented the American situation to the 
King, and really did a great deal more for the colonies 
than did Lee. In this work La Fon was aided greatly 
by Thomas Donnelly, another of Mr. Carroll's Paris 
agents. 

Louis XVI was a man, mentally and morally much 
better than his kind of that day. Undoubtedly he had 
in view above all things the best interests of France. 
At this period he faced a serious and complex problem 
on which his advisers were at odds. On the one hand 
it was argued that above all things France needed a 
long period of rest and recuperation and that nothing 
should be done that might lead to another war with 
England. 

Through the influence of Beaumarchais and Ver- 
gennes the sympathy of the King was now strongly 
with the colonies. The Seven Years' War had been a 
struggle for colonial possessions and France had lost. 
She had still important colonial interests and her ally, 
Spain, had much greater. By helping separate the 
American Colonies from England that country would 
be greatly weakened ; but what further effect would the 
success of the American revolution have! Wouldn't 
it make Mexico, South and Central America as well as 
the rich West India Islands also want to become 
separate countries. Could France and Spain afford to 
help make revolution successful? This was a time 



ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE 181 

when religion played a big part in political move- 
ments, and the enemies of the American cause put it 
another way. If you help separate the colonies from 
Great Britain, will you not be building up a country 
destined to become another powerful Protestant 
nation? 

Can Catholic France afford to stand god-mother for 
a country pretty sure to become a great Protestant 
nation? To all this, men like Vergennes, Beaumar- 
chais and La Fon answered that the American Nation 
was destined to be a land of liberty and oppor- 
tunity; where no religion would be prescribed and no 
one permitted to suffer on account of his religion. 
Then there was something else to consider. The talk 
about liberty and the natural rights of man was 
becoming general in France. One writer has said the 
idea of liberty was whispered in the time of Louis 
XIV, talked out loud in the time of Louis XV and 
screamed from the house-top in the time of Louis XVI. 
Though this screaming point had not yet been reached 
there was enough talk of liberty in France, to make it 
a serious matter for the King to go to the aid of a 
distant people struggling for liberty. 

But it is undoubtedly true that the King honestly 
sympathized, and sympathized deeply, with the 
American Colonies. That this sympathy was greatly 
increased by his hatred of England is equally true. He 
was in a frame of mind to listen favorably and Beau- 
marchais was the man to present a plan. And it 
should be kept in mind that as severely as Beamnar- 
chais has been criticized nothing came out to convict 
him of dishonest practices. He was in full sympathy 
with Americans, but was entirely willing to turn that 
sympathy to good commercial account. Nothing worse 
can be said of him truthfully. So he went on to 
develop his plan. France should advance 1,000,000 



182 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

francs and through the influence of the King a like 
sum was to be advanced by Spain. With this 2,000,000 
francs he would establish a great commercial house 
that would buy or receive free arms, munitions and 
equipments and sell to the colonies. In return the 
colonies would send to this house tobacco and other 
raw material that the colonies had to sell and that the 
French people needed. In this way the struggling 
continentals could be clothed, equipped and fed, while 
France would be building up a foreign trade at the 
expense of England. It took a good while to perfect 
all the details but the idea was plausible and practical, 
and men like Washington, Carroll and Franklin saw 
great possibilities for good in it. When the first inti- 
mation of the scheme reached this country, Mr. Carroll 
was with Washington at army headquarters. They 
doubtless talked it over and considered it from every 
angle. It came as a gleam of hope at a time when the 
situation was dark and everything seemed discourag- 
ing. The surrender of Burgoyne in the north was 
about the only success the colonies had really achieved 
for a good while. Mr. Carroll was much pleased with 
the prospects and was glad above all things that he 
had not consented to go to France or to be known in 
the transaction. As it was, every time there was a 
mention of aid from France, the Loyalist element 
howled Romanism and Catholic influence. 

Lee, the American Commissioner and Beaumarchais 
conferred, arranged and negotiated. Beaumarchais 
leased a hotel and prepared to do business in a big 
way. The great mercantile house of Roderique Hor- 
talez & Co. was a fixed fact and business Avith the 
Colonies was opened. From the first Lee blustered 
and blundered. He and Beaumarchais each distrusted 
the other, but business proceeded. Of course England 
could find no grievance in a commercial house selling 



ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE 183 

goods to the Colonies. There was nothing to show 
that the King had anything to do with it. The French 
officers who wanted to enter the Continental army 
became a nuisance — at least to Beaumarchais. With 
money in hand and the government arsenals to draw 
on without having to pay Roderique Hortalez & Co. 
was in a position to do a flourishing business ; and it 
did. Lee agreed to provide ships to transport the 
munitions but failed to do so. Beaumarchais then 
provided ships. The first one sailed with a cargo of 
such munitions as were needed worst in the Colonies. 
Just as Beaumarchais was breathing easy with the 
feeling that business had now commenced, the ship 
returned. One of the French officers didn't like his 
quarters on the ship and had compelled the captain 
to come back. This matter was adjusted and other 
troubles arising were also met and business went on. 

Beaumarchais sent bills to Congress asking that 
tobacco and other raw materials be returned in pay- 
ment. Lee wrote to Congress that the cargoes were 
gifts from the King, that the business house was a 
mere blind to fool Great Britain and that no payment 
should be made. In the effort to magnify his own 
importance and acts Lee bungled the whole thing and 
did much harm. Congress had no tobacco to send and 
no way to get it except to induce the States to provide. 
In this condition it M^as eas}^ for its members to be 
persuaded that no payment should be made. Silas 
Deane had arrived in the meantime and had been in 
frequent conference with Beaumarchais. Deane tried 
to negotiate a loan from Vergennes, but was referred 
to Beaumarchais and the general mix-up grew worse, 
but the House of Roderique Hortalez & Co. kept on 
sending supplies to America and charging them to the 
account of the Continental Congress. 

In October, Congress had elected Franklin, Deane 



184 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

and Lee to represent the country in France with 
instructions to them to secure aid in money and muni- 
tions on the best terms, and in the most advantageous 
manner they could. Franldin arrived in Paris, Decem- 
ber 21st. Both Lee and Deane were jealous of him as 
well as of each other, but he was a man able to grasp 
and manage the situation. He encouraged Beaumar- 
chais to forward his supplies. Beaumarchais wasn't 
taking much chance as he got his stock without cost 
and had in hand 2,000,000 francs, about $400,000, to 
defray expenses. He undoubtedly figured on what he 
should get from America in return, as his profits. 
And the King in his friendly, easy-going way, was 
willing to let it go at that. 

But England was so alarmed at the course of things 
and so strongly suspected that aid was being extended 
by the French that there need be no valid objection to 
an open alliance. Franklin had all the points that Mr. 
Carroll could give him, all the information that La Fon 
had accumulated and Beaumarchais was ready to help 
all he could. 

Franldin 's arrival was in the midst of all this bustle 
and blundering. His arrival created great interest as 
he was known to the French people as one of the 
world's great scientists. One writer said of him, '* he 
has a most pleasing expression, very little hair and a 
fur cap." 

He took up his lodgings with Silas Deane and began 
looking into affairs. Beaumarchais was anxious but 
cheerful. He was always cheerful. But Franklin 
didn't bother much about Beaumarchais or Hortalez 
& Co. He probably thought it easiest and safest to 
let Lee, Deane, Congress and Beaumarchais fight it 
out. What he was most interested in was getting 
money from the French and forming an alliance that 
would be to the advantage of the two countries. 



ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE 185 

Franklin through Vergennes and others soon suc- 
ceeded in getting the King to advance two million of 
francs. This was in addition to what Beaumarchais 
had received and was made as a gift to the colonial 
cause. Franklin was successful in securing funds and 
his negotiations for a treaty were well received while 
the French watched the progress of affairs with great 
interest. Finally on the 16th of December, M. Gerard, 
in behalf of France, informed the American commis- 
sioners that His Majesty had determined to acknowl- 
edge the independence of and to enter into a treaty of 
conunerce and alliance with the United States of 
America and that he would not only acknowledge the 
independence, but would support it with all the means 
in his power. 

On the 6th of February, 1778, a treaty of commerce 
and a treaty of defensive alliance in case war should be 
the consequences, was signed by representatives of the 
two countries and the compact that assured the 
independence of the Colonies was cemented. 

France made loans to the Americans of three million 
francs in 1778, one million in 1779, and four million in 
1880. The loans were of inestimable advantage. The 
credit of Congress was so low that it was practically 
impossible for the American representatives to bor- 
row money in Europe. They were embarrassed also 
by the representatives of the States who were trying 
to secure separate loans. 

Early in the year 1781, in requesting a loan, Frank- 
lin said " I am growing old. I feel myself much 
enfeebled by my late illness, and it is probable I shall 
not long have any more concern in these affairs. I 
therefore take this occasion to express my opinion to 
your Excellency that the present conjunction is crit- 
ical; that there is some danger lest the Congress 
should lose its influence over the people, if it is found 



186 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

unable to procure the aids that are wanted, and that 
the whole system of the new government in America 
may be thereby shal^en ; that if the English are suffered 
once to recover that country such an opportunity of 
effectual separation as the present may not occur again 
in the course of ages." To this appeal Vergennes 
replied that on account of the great expense France 
was under in the war, she was not able to make the 
loan, but that the King himself would give six millions 
of francs as a free gift, in addition to three millions 
which he had given before. 

But notwithstanding this gift and in spite of the low 
condition of the treasury a further loan of four mil- 
lion of francs was made in 1781, and in the same year 
Holland loaned our government ten million of francs 
on the indorsement of the King of France. In 1782 
France loaned us six million more and six million 
again in 1783. The United States received from 
France by gifts of the King and by loans and by the 
guarantee of the King an aggregate of over forty-four 
million of francs. 

In his life of Franklin, Parton, speaking of this 
source of supply said, '* Never did he (Franklin) 
apply in vain. Never was he obliged to defer the pay- 
ment of a draft for an hour. So ardent was the King 
in our support in 1779 that Maurepas said '^ It is for- 
tunate for the King that Lafayette does not take it 
into his head to strip Versailles of its furniture, to 
send to his dear Americans, as his Majesty would be 
unable to refuse it." 

Besides the gifts and loans here mentioned a large 
amount of supplies was donated so that Mr. Pickering, 
our Secretary of State, in a message to the American 
Minister in Paris in 1797 said, ''All the loans and sup- 
plies received from France during the American war 
amounted to fifty-three million francs. This did not 



ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE 187 

include the account of Beaumarchais nor the free gifts 
of the King." 

Recalling this aid lavishly given at a time when it 
was so badly needed, and when we further recall that 
on the way to meet Cornwallis at Yorktown, where the 
final struggle was made, the continentals were in such 
need of money that Washington induced Rochambeau, 
the French commander, to open his own strong box 
and pay the American troops, that wholesale desertion 
might be prevented; and when we remember that at 
Yorktown the French soldiers outnumbered the Ameri- 
cans and the French fleet really turned the tide in our 
favor and gave us the victory — when we remember all 
these things we are prone to ask ourselves if victory 
over the British could have been achieved without the 
aid of the French. Mr. Latrobe asked Mr. Carroll 
this question the day after Lafayette's departure in 
1824 and the venerable statesman and Christian 
answered simply, * ' It was the Lord 's will. ' ' 



CHAPTER XIX 

EGBERT MORRIS WITH THE AID OF CARROLL AND 
OTHERS SAVES THE FINANCIAL SITUATION 

In 1781 conditions in the colonies were about as bad 
as they could well be. The armies were unpaid, dis- 
couraged and mutinous. One mutiny after another 
had been suppressed, and little hope of better things 
could be held out. 

Congress and the cause was absolutely bankrupt, 
Washington was not only greatly discouraged but he 
was almost ruined financially. The paper money of the 
colonies had reached a point where it could not be 
passed at any rate of discount. The gradual but con- 
tinued depreciation had been the cause of ruin in all 
directions. People who had large amounts due them 
had to submit to being paid off in a currency so depre- 
ciated that it took one hundred dollars of it to buy 
what one dollar of hard money would pay for. Out- 
side of lands and slaves Washington's great fortune 
was largely invested in mortgages and notes in Vir- 
ginia. His debtors were prompt to settle his claims 
and pay off his mortgages when they could do so with 
paper money obtainable at the rate of a hundred dol- 
lars for one dollar in coin. Ruination was met every- 
where and something had to be done. England had 
held that when the paper money became worthless by 
reason of the immense amount of it, the war would 
have to end ; and it looked that way. 

Robert Morris was a member of Congress, but was 
also a successful merchant in Philadelphia. He had 
been sending out privateers and had been trading with 
the merchants of France, Spain and Holland ; and was 
regarded as a successful man at a time when so many 

[189] 



190 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

were losing all they had. Washington turned to this 
successful merchant and urged him to undertake the 
financial redemption of the colonies. Here again the 
reliable Carroll and faithful Tilghman were on hand. 
Robert Morris, born in Liverpool, had come to Mary- 
land when a small boy, and was raised in the same 
county and in the same part of the county where Tilgh- 
man was born. When Tilghman went to Philadelphia 
he naturally sought out the only man there from his 
immediate locality. They became friends and Tilgh- 
man had great faith in the ability of this friend, who 
had been so successful in his own business. 

The paper money disaster that carried down so 
many men of wealth had not hurt Mr. Carroll, though 
he had great sums due him these were mostly payable, 
not in dollars, but in pounds of tobacco, a custom 
that had prevailed in Maryland since its settlement. 
Though the custom was now passing away Mr. Car- 
roll thought it expedient to revive it, and to a great 
extent did so in his transactions during this period 
when the value of a dollar was so uncertain. 

At the earnest wish of Washington a committee of 
Congress took up the question of money with Mr. Mor- 
ris. He had been too busy with his own affairs to give 
much time to the public of late. Carroll, Morris and 
Chase talked the matter over fully with one or two 
others. All except Chase were men of big business 
interests. They agreed that the finances must be put 
on a specific basis. That much was easy ; but how was 
it to be done? As a result of many interviews and 
much discussion Robert Morris agreed to become the 
fiscal agent of the government. Tilghman 's belief that 
Robert Morris could save the day had much to do with 
impressing Washington. This confidence of Tilghman 
was so thorough that it further cemented the friend- 
ship between him and Robert Morris, so that when the 



SAVES THE FINANCIAL SITUATION 191 

Revolutionary War was over Tilghman became a mem- 
ber of the Robert Morris firm, and was the Baltimore 
manager for the house at the time of his death, which 
occurred while Washington, Carroll and most of his 
older associates were still living. 

But, urged by Washington, Carroll, Tilghman and 
others, Robert Morris undertook the task of putting 
the business of the colonies on a specific basis, which 
meant paying the men and buying supplies with gold 
and silver. Wliile the conferences were going on 
Morris was working out his schemes and had arranged 
them in advance and canvassed them with Carroll and 
his other associates. 

Samuel Adams protested against the selection of 
Robert Morris as fiscal agent and against acting on 
the advice of Washington in such a matter. In fact 
the whole clan that had sought the destruction of the 
commander-in-chief, or had connived at it, were still 
crying out against the '^ exaltation of Washington," 
as they called it. But the other faction led by Carroll 
and Chase had its way, and Morris was selected and 
was given broad authority in the management of the 
rickety financial situation. 

He organized The Bank of North America, an insti- 
tution still in existence in Philadelphia, and with this 
bank he proposed to gather enough coin to meet the 
payments of the United States as they had to be made. 
He had three sources on which to base his hopes. He 
could secure deposits in coin from the wealthy men 
of the colonies, but he could not rely on any great sum 
in this way. Some of the colonies were making sub- 
scriptions of tobacco and other produce. These he 
would send to the West Indies and sell for coin. Then 
there was another loan from France which Laurens 
was bringing over. This loan, handled as a man like 
Morris could handle it, saved the day. The other two 



192 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

items helped a great deal, but it was a proper handling 
of the coin from France that really met the situation. 
Men like Carroll, Hancock, Washington, Jefferson, 
Chase and Johnson sent all the coin to Morris that 
they could gather. Mr. Hancock was at that time 
Governor of Massachusetts and Mr. Jefferson, Gov- 
ernor of Virginia. Morris was abused and traduced 
by the clique that was fighting Washington and by the 
holders of paper money, who felt bitter towards any 
one connected with the finances. A mob in the streets 
of Philadelphia tarred and feathered a dog and cov- 
vered him with the worthless Continental notes to 
show their indignation. 

But the Bank of North America prospered and is 
in existence to-day, the only National bank in the coun- 
try that was not required to change its name by insert- 
ing the word *' National." It still holds the original 
charter issued by the Continental Congress and also 
has a charter from the State of Pennsylvania and one 
from our present National Government, The courtesy 
of not being required to change its name was extended 
to it by the government on account of the patriotic 
associations of its early career. What Washington 
was in war and Carroll in civil life, Robert Morris and 
the Bank of North America were in the financial 
salvation of the colonies. 

The mistakes and blunders of Cornwallis, now in 
command of the British armies of the South, were so 
many and so glaring that Washington believed that if 
the troops could be paid so that deserters and mutiny 
could be prevented, a fatal blow at the enemy could be 
struck. Morris received the gold from France and did 
everything possible to make the most of it. He piled 
it high in the bank windows during the day, and had 
men moving it from place to place in order to impress 
the people with the great resources of the government. 



SAVES THE FINANCIAL SITUATION 193 

Not long before this the members of the Maryland 
legislature after trying in every direction to raise 
supplies determined to make such personal contribu- 
tions as they were able. The more prosperous of them 
had been constant in their aid in various ways since 
the beginning of the struggle. But now, with every 
prospect that the scene of activity would be removed 
to the Chesapeake Bay, the need of money and sup- 
plies became more pressing than ever. The members 
were not poor men, for one had to be possessed of an 
estate to the value of $5,000 to make him eligible to the 
position. But men who had estates found it hard to 
get money even for their personal requirements. But 
the demand on the State was pressing and each mem- 
ber did his best. Many made their contributions in 
paper money, the only currency they could command. 
Others made the more substantial contribution of one, 
two, three or five hogsheads of tobacco. But Mr. Car- 
roll contributed ten hogsheads of tobacco, the largest 
contribution made by any member. Most of this duly 
reached Morris at Philadelphia or was delivered for 
shipment to one of his trading ships for transportation 
to a point where it could be converted into coin. 

The new methods of financing duly impressed the 
country and the impression soon reached the army and 
the people who held unpaid claims for supplies. The 
mere fact that Robert Morris said the claims would be 
paid in gold made the claimants much better satisfied 
to wait. Morris directed the payment first of all the 
small claims that were duly certified. He said that 
ten men with a claim of one pound each would make 
ten times as much noise as one man with a ten-pound 
claim. He made part payments on the large claims 
and soon had the situation well in hand. He could not 



194 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

replenish the strong box of Washington as he desired 
and as it required, but things were much improved. 

Mr. Carroll made many trips from Washington to 
Morris and back and it seemed for a time that Con- 
gress was completely ignored. Mr. Carroll had long 
been disgusted and disappointed at the way many 
members of Congress seemed to view so serious a sit- 
uation. Nearly two years before he had written to 
Johnson at Annapolis from York, Pa., " I wish you 
would employ some ingenius writer to combat and 
exploit the perfidiousness of our enemies; they stop 
at nothing — the whole British nation seems rising 
against us ; they will unite every force to conquer us. 
I am persuaded they Tvdll send over, during the course 
of the summer and fall at least 16,000 men principally 
British. Is it not strange that the lust of dominion 
should force the British nation to greater exertions 
than our desire of liberty can produce among us? " 
and he concludes this letter by saying '' The Congress 
does worse than ever, we murder time and chat it 
away on idle and impertinent talk; however, I hope 
the urgency of affairs will teach even this body a little 
discretion." 

At that time as well as at the period a little later the 
weakness shown by Congress seemed to cause the 
people more than ever to place their reliance on Wash- 
ington and those who were so valiantly supporting 
him. Only close friends like Mr. Carroll, Lafayette 
and Tilghman knew the burden under which he was 
staggering. 

John Henry of Maryland was another staunch 
friend of Washington and an earnest co-worker with 
Mr. Carroll. He supplemented the letter just quoted 
by writing to the Governor ' ' the state of the army is 
most critical. Four months' pay if not more is due 



SAVES THE FINANCIAL SITUATION 195 

them; and no money in the treasury to satisfy their 
just and reasonable demands." 

This condition which prevailed everywhere con- 
tinued to grow worse till the situation was taken in 
hand and the life of the nation saved by Morris and 
his associates. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE WAR NEARING AN END — MR. CARROLL'S 
INTEREST IN THE MARYLAND LINE 

Mr. Carroll continued to give his time mainly to 
the service of the State. The shifting of the scenes of 
the war from the South as well as from the North to 
the Chesapeake Bay made the duties in connection 
with State affairs all the more exacting. 

Cornwallis, having moved to northern Virginia, and 
with indications that Washington and Rochambeau 
would attack him there, and thus bring the war once 
more to the very borders of Maryland, made matters 
here still more interesting. 

Finances were in better shape by reason of con- 
tracts now being made in gold and silver; and people 
at least could tell what they owed, what was owed to 
them, and what they had lost. 

With a French army under Gen. Rochambeau 
larger than the army of Washington aiding us, and 
being paid out of its own strong box brought over 
from France, our cause was in much better, but far 
from a satisfactory condition. It was with the utmost 
effort and with liberal personal contributions that 
money could be raised to pay the Maryland troops. 
Robert Morris and his bank were doing much, enough 
to save the day, but things had got in such a terrible 
condition that with all this the troops were in a pretty 
bad way. 

News reached Annapolis of the movement against 
Cornwallis, who had taken a position at Yorktown. 
Washington and Rochambeau had found means to 
transport their armies to the new theatre of opera- 
tions and the great fight of the war, the decisive battle 

[197] 



198 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

was likely to be fought. This news and much more, 
some reliable and a good deal groundless, was con- 
stantly reaching Annapolis. 

The Maryland division numbering something of 
over 2,000 men, had been ordered by Washington, with 
the consent of Congress, to go south. They marched 
from Morristown, N. J., to Elk River, Maryland, where 
arrangements had been made for their embarkation 
south. Charles Carroll of CarroUton met the troops 
at the point which is now Elkton and spent two days 
with De Kalb and the regimental commanders. Just 
what the nature and purpose of this visit was is not 
known, but in some way it undoubtedly concerned the 
payment of the men. However, the troops were sent 
on ships seized by the State to North Carolina. 

Much news had come of the late movements and 
hardships endured by the Maryland troops, and 
serious criticism of Gates, who had been appointed to 
the command of the army of the South independent of 
Washington. Gen. Otho Williams of Baltimore, who 
was adjutant on De Kalb's staff, tried to make some 
suggestions to Gates, but they were coldly received. 
Williams was a friend of Carroll and Carroll had 
offended him by his loyal stand for Washington and 
Gates had no use for Williams. 

The record shows pretty clearly that if Gates had 
listened to Gen. Williams, he could have saved the 
men much suffering and himself the humiliation that 
followed and culminated in a disastrous cam.paign and 
the death of Baron De Kalb. The Maryline Line lost 
over six hundred of its two thousand men. 

Washington announced the disaster of Camden and 
the defeat of Gates to Gov. Lee of Maryland. He 
also wrote Charles Carroll of CarroUton, " Maryland 
has made great exertions, but she can still do some- 
thing more." A stirring appeal was made by the 



THE WAR NEARING AN END 199 

Governor, Mr. Carroll and others, and seven hundred 
recruits were mustered in. By earnest efforts of pri- 
vate citizens a considerable amount of stores and 
money were also collected. 

In October Congress displaced Gates and appointed 
Gen. Green to the conunand of the Army of the South. 
This appointment was made on the recommendation 
of Gen. Washington and gave great satisfaction to 
Mr. Carroll and others fond of Washington. It helped 
to relieve the anxiety in Maryland for there was a 
feeling, and strong assurances that the Maryland 
Line would get better treatment than it had received 
from Gates. 

All these things and many more had taken place 
and had culminated in the condition mentioned when 
Corwallis, the British commander, found himself at 
Yorktown, Virginia, and the armies of Washington and 
Rochambeau seeking to give battle to him. 

The news of the surrender of Cornwallis reached 
Annapolis almost as soon as it did Philadelphia. 
Colonel Tilghman had been dispatched by Washington 
to carry the news to the Congress. He came up on 
the west side of the Chesapeake Bay riding as long 
as a horse could go and then getting a fresh horse 
and still on till he reached the mouth of the Patuxent 
River w^here Franklin's piingy carried him to the 
Eastern Shore. As each new relay was required 
Tilghman called out "A horse for the Continental 
Congress. Cornwallis is taken " and right quickly 
the horse was furnished. In this way he made the 
trip from Yorktown to Philadelphia in four days. 
Reaching the Eastern Shore at 2 o'clock in the morn- 
ing he could hardly be persuaded to sleep till day 
light. He reached Philadelphia well worn out but 
able to go with Congress to the old Dutch Church to 



200 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

give thanks for the victory that had crowned the 
efforts of the Colonial forces. 

As Mr. Carroll was about to start for Philadelphia 
news came that Gen. Clinton with a heavy fleet and 
half his army from New York was in Chesapeake Bay. 
He had arrived too late to save Cornwallis but it was 
feared that he could lay waste Maryland cities liable 
to attack by sea. But the panic in Maryland was 
soon quieted for finding efforts in behalf of Cornwallis 
useless and fearful that the French fleet aiding the 
Americans might attack New York the British aban- 
doned the Chesapeake as suddenly as it had appeared 
and returned to the defense of New York. 

Mr. Carroll believed that the surrender of Corn- 
wallis would end the war and so assured his neighbors 
and associates. 

But letters from Tilghman said that Washington 
was preparing for another campaign and as winter 
was approaching provisions must be made for supply- 
ing the troops with food till next spring. 

Mr. Carroll read every item of news from England 
with the greatest interest. He heard of the downfall 
of Lord North's ministry with great satisfaction and 
hoped for a speedy termination of hostilities. But 
he realized that our own affairs were so complicated 
with those of France that a treaty of peace would 
have to be made with both France and the United 
States at the same time. This delay meant that the 
troops must be paid and fed. It would not do to 
assume that the war was over and relax a single effort. 
All were agreed on that. 

On the 4th of March 1782 the House of Commons 
practically resolved against further effort to prose- 
cute the war in North America. But still the treaty 
of peace was not signed and the troops must be kept 
ready for action. At the beginning of this year not a 



THE WAR NEARING AN END 201 

dollar was in the National Treasury. Soldiers and 
contractors clamored for money and Washington was 
almost discouraged. But Mr. Carroll and his associ- 
ates realized that the Maryland boys had to be looked 
after and did their best to make the army hardships 
as light as possible. The feeling that it was nearly 
over and that all would soon return to their homes 
made the delays even more irritating. 

But finally news came that the treaty had been 
signed, peace reigned and the army would be dis- 
banded. On the 19th of April 1782, just eight years 
from the date of the battle of Lexington which began 
the struggle, a proclamation was issued to the army 
declaring that the war was over. 

Though in no sense a bigot Mr. Carroll always 
delighted in recalling the part which people of the 
Catholic faith took in achieving our independence. In 
connection with the close of the war it has been some- 
times recalled but not often if ever printed that nearly 
if not quite 70 per cent of the men who won the battle 
of Yorktown for our cause and practically ended the 
war with Great Britain were men professing the 
Roman Catholic religion. At first glance you wonder 
how this could be knowing that the Catholics at the time 
formed but a small per cent of the population. But 
you will recall that the Army of Count Rochambeau 
of about 8,000 and the men in De Grasse fleet some 
2,000 were Catholic while Washington's Army num- 
bered some 10,000 of whom many were Irish, French 
and Colonial Catholics. So it is well within bounds 
to say that 70 per cent of the force that captured 
Cornwallis was made up of Catholics. 

Joseph Galloway of Philadelphia who held various 
offices under the crown before the Parliamentary 
Commission in London of which Burke was chairman, 
when asked if the rebel army was made up of native 



202 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Americans replied : The names and places of nativity- 
were taken down and I can answer with precision 
nearly one-half were Irish Catholic, one-fourth were 
Scotch and English and one-fourth native Americans." 
Major General Robertson the British Commander 
testifying before the same Commission said *'I re- 
member General Lee telling me that half the rebel 
army were Irish Catholics. ' ' 



CHAPTER XXI 

EARLY DAYS OF PEACE — THE NEW GOVERNMENT 
— MR CARROLL A UNITED STATES SENATOR 

Peace being restored, Mr. Carroll felt the necessity 
for giving some of his time to his business affairs. The 
Baltimore Iron Works received attention first. A let- 
ter from the manager, Mr. Clement Brooke, was trans- 
mitted to the stockholders with the observation that 
'* the works if carried on with spirit, and managed to 
the greatest advantage, might certainly be made 
profitable; at present they hardly clear themselves. 
How to improve so improvable an estate, is the object 
of the proposed meeting." At the meeting a new 
policy was inaugurated that proved profitable. 

As usual on the meeting of the the Assembly Nov. 
3rd there was no quorum of the Senate. In fact 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton was the only Senator on 
hand. After waiting some days he left the city and on 
the day of the quorum the 22nd, was not there but 
returned to his seat a day or two later. The Chevalier 
d'Annemous, Consul General of France came to An- 
napolis to adjust some matters between his office and 
the state. Charles Carroll of Carrollton and George 
Plater represented the Senate on the committee which 
made these adjustments. 

An address to General Washington was issued by a 
committee of the Senate and House. Charles Carroll 
of Carrollton and John Henry represented the Senate 
and Mr. Carroll performed most of the work of pre- 
paring the address. Daniel Carroll, President of the 
Senate, being ill, it was necessary to elect a new Presi- 
dent and Charles Carroll of Carrollton was selected. 

[203] 



204 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

At this session The Susquehanna Consul was incor- 
porated with Samuel Hughes, Augustine Washington, 
Henry Lee, Charles Carroll of Carrollton and others 
as proprietors. 

John Henry and Charles Carroll of Carrollton were 
the members of a joint committee to prepare and 
present an address to General Lafayette, which was 
done. 

Some years before a company had been formed 
under the name of The Potomac Company, the object 
being to open and extend the navigation of the Poto- 
mac River. The war had retarded this work but now 
it was deemed desirable to take it up again. For this 
purpose the Assembly appointed a committee com- 
posed of Thomas Stone, Samuel Hughes and Charles 
Carroll. The State of Virginia appointed General 
Washington and Gen. Gates and these formed the 
joint committee of the two States. This committee 
perfected the plans and a new Potomac Company was 
organized Avdth Gen. Washington as president and the 
Stoles of Virginia and Maryland each subscribed for 
stock. A road was also to be built from the head 
waters of the Potomac to the Ohio River, a distance 
of forty miles. 

A credit bill was passed but it did not meet the 
approval of Mr. Carroll who filed a sharp dissenting 
opinion. 

The disputed boundary between Maryland and 
Virginia had not been settled. A committee was 
named to meet a similar committee from Virginia. 
Instructions to the Marjdand members were prepared 
by a committee of which Mr. Carroll was chairman. 
This joint committee met at Alexandria, adjourned to 
Mt. Vernon and there formed the commercial compact 
which finally led to the commercial union that ulti- 
mately resulted in the convention which formed the 



EARLY DAYS OF PEACE 205 

Constitution that so changed the character of the rela- 
tions which the thirteen States bore to each other. 

The trouble over the Maryland investment in the 
stock of the Bank of England had not been settled. 
Samuel Chase who had been sent to London to collect 
it had not succeeded. He handed in his commission 
to defray expenses and this was allowed the sum being 
500. Charles Carroll and Edward Lloyd voted against 
the allowance. The matter of removing the disability 
of the Tories was discussed but Mr. Carroll thought 
the time for this had not yet come. 

The repeal of laws repugnant to the treaty of peace 
were in order and these with the bank stock trouble 
and a debtors bill took up a good deal of the time of 
the session. 

A Federal Convention was to meet in Philadelphia 
April 23. Mr, Carroll was elected a delegate but 
declined to serve on account of a pressure of public 
and private business. About this time Charles Car- 
roll of Carrollton became deeply interested in a proj- 
ect for establishing a Jesuit College in Oeorgetown. 
Mr. Carroll headed the list of gentlemen in Maryland 
who were to solicit subscriptions. 

His son Charles was sent abroad in 1785 to be edu- 
cated in Europe as his father and other CarroUs 
before him had been. 

A family picture shows the departure of young 
Charles and the portraits are said to be very good. 
Patrick, the colored boy, about the same age as the 
departing son, shows in the picture. This Patrick was 
the father of Patrick, the family servant, of the Car- 
rolls, known to so many of the present generation. 

Mary Carroll was married to Richard Caton, an 
Englishman, who had settled in Maryland. 

In 1788 the Maryland Senate had before it the work 
of the late Federal Convention. A committee of four 



206 CHAELES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

to report on the proposed Constitution was named and 
included Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Daniel 
Carroll. It was decided after some controversy to 
hold a convention to consider the Constitution of the 
United States which had been prepared. This con- 
vention was made up of members elected the 3rd Mon- 
day of January and it met in Annapolis in the follow- 
ing March. The act calling the convention provided 
that if it indorsed the Constitution notice to that effect 
should be given to the Congress. There was much 
opposition but the Constitution was finally ratified and 
notice to that effect w^as accordingly given to Com- 
gress. One party known as the Federalists were vigor- 
ously in favor of adopting the Constitution as pre- 
sented and this party had its way throughout. It is 
pretty certain that Charles Carroll of Carrollton 
voted with this party all along, though the record does 
not show much as details of the doings. 

Mr. Carroll was active in the proceedings of the 
State Senate, serving on and doing much of the work 
of the most important committees. 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton was elected a United 
States Senator to represent the State of Maryland. 
John Henry was the other Senator and the delegates 
to the Lower House of Congress were Daniel Carroll, 
William Smith and George Gale. The Congress of 
1789 which was the first under the Federal Constitu- 
tion met in the city of New York. All the Maryland 
delegation except Senator Henry had rooms in the 
house No. 52 Smith Street. The Senate sat with 
closed doors and the records of its doings are very 
meager. Only actual results after the conclusions had 
been reached are of record. Mr. Carroll took his seat 
April 13th and was made a member of the Judiciary 
Committee. 

The questions of titles for the President and other 



EARLY DAYS OF PEACE 207 

officials came up. Mr. Carroll was opposed to such 
official designations and his views prevailed. There 
was a heated discussion over the question of Con- 
gress accompanying the President to St. Paul's 
Church and attending divine service. Mr. Carroll did 
not regard the discussion worth the time that was 
given to it and refused to vote against the motion. He 
didn't oppose, and went to church. He was a Federal- 
ist and the Federalists were mostly on the side of 
going to church with the President and the other party 
then designated as the Republican Federalists opposed 
the act. Mr. Carroll was a Federalist and stood with 
his party. 

In connection with the inauguration of the Presi- 
dent, some matters of precedent came up when one of 
the members explained what etiquette in England 
called for. Mr. Carroll answered that it made no 
difference whatever, how they did things in England, 
as that country was no longer a precedent for them. 

The first social function by the new President was 
a box party at the theatre May 11th. The guests were 
the Governor of New York, the French and Spanish 
Ministers and ten Senators, both the Maryland Sena- 
tors, Charles Carroll of Carrollton and John Henry 
being of the party. A number of ladies were also 
guests and the play was '' The School for Scandal " 
following a curtain raiser described as a screaming 
farce '' The Old Soldier." 

The familiar subject of duties on imports was one 
of the first and most important to demand the atten- 
tion of this first Congress. In fact, tariff and titles 
held much of the attention of the session. 

Mr. Carroll took an earnest part in the work of 
deciding how the * ' advice and consent of the Senate ' ' 
should be given to the President's nominations. The 



208 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

motion to decide by ballot was forcibly and success- 
fully opposed by Mr. Carroll who favored the viva 
voce method as the only fair one. 

Mr. Carroll also opposed giving the President power 
of removal where the power to appoint had been with 
the advice and consent of the Senate. He argued 
earnestly that '' the deposing power should be the 
same as the appointing power. 

The act establishing Federal courts was passed. It 
had the support of Mr. Carroll as he was on the com- 
mittee that prepared it. On the question of salaries 
one commenting on the doings says, ** the doctrine 
seemed to be that all worth was wealth, and all dignity 
of character consisted in expensive living, but Mr. 
Carroll of Maryland though the richest man in the 
Senate was not with them. ' ' 

There was a great struggle over locating the seat 
of government. It was decided that a district ten 
miles square be selected. But where? 

As the Constitution was first adopted, there was no 
provision guaranteeing religious liberty, but the very 
first amendment added to the original document for- 
bids Congress to make any law respecting the estab- 
lishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise 
thereof. The amendment as originally prepared was 
that '' no religion shall be established by law, neither 
shaU the equal rights of conscience be infringed." 
Many of the members thought that this amendment 
was unnecessary inasmuch as Congress had no power 
delegated to it by the original Constitution to establish 
a national religion, and this view was probably cor- 
rect; but the first Congress wished to leave no doubt 
on the subject. No member seems to have opposed 
the resolution for the amendment. 

Mr. Carroll 's remarks on the subject were extremely 
gentle and breathed the spirit of that liberty of con- 



EARLY DAYS OF PEACE 209 

science which was one of the traditions of the State 
he represented. He said: 

As the rights of conscience are, in their 
nature, of peculiar delicacy, and will little bear 
the gentlest touch of the governmental hand; and 
as many sects have concurred in opinion, that they 
are not well secured under the present Constitu- 
tion, he said he was much in favor of adopting the 
words. He thought it would tend more towards 
conciliating the minds of the people to the Govern- 
ment than almost any other amendment he had 
heard proposed. He would not contend with gen- 
tlemen about the phraseology, his object was to 
secure the substance in such a manner as to 
satisfy the wishes of the honest part of the com- 
munity. 

As Mr. Carroll was still a member of the Maryland 
Assembly he hurried home after the adjournment of 
Congress Sept. 29th. He spent the intervening time 
till the meeting of the Assembly at Doughoregan 
Manor and on the meeting of the Assembly Nov. 4th 
was at Annapolis and in his place as a Senator of the 
State of Maryland. 

Mr. Paca was elected Governor. Charles Carroll 
of Carrollton and Mathew Tilghman were named as a 
committee of the Senate to draw up an address of 
approval and thanks to the retiring Governor. 

The State appropriated the house, grounds and fur- 
niture of Governor Eden for the use of the Executive 
till some further determination should be reached. 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Col. Richard 
Barnes were directed to inquire into a contract made 
by the House with Frederick Green for printing the 
laws of the State. 

A bill to regulate the militia was passed but one 
to settle and pay the Civil list was rejected because the 
Senate considered the allowances too high. Charles 



210 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Carroll of CarroUton and James McHenry entered 
their ' * dissent. ' ' 

General Rochambeau visited Annapolis in January 
and was most hospitably entertained at the public 
expense. The Assembly voted an address to him 
which was prepared by Charles Carroll of CarroUton, 
Charles Carroll, barrister, and Edward Lloyd. 

The military bill afforded a cause of dispute between 
the two houses but was finally passed, Charles Carroll 
of CarroUton dissenting and filing reasons therefor. 

The spring of 1783 found the gay city of Annapolis 
even gayer than usual. In addition to the ordinary 
matters of interest the Continental Congress met here 
and great crowds assembled to witness the proceedings 
of this body which were of especial interest because 
this year was the year that peace was declared and 
Annapolis as the national capital took a big part in 
the universal rejoicing. The great celebration took 
place on Carroll's green. An ox and many sheep and 
calves were roasted and eatables of every kind and 
variety were provided for the multitude. Many French 
officers who had participated in the war were present 
as the guests of Charles Carroll of CarroUton. 

April 21, was the meeting day for the Maryland 
Senate but Charles Carroll of CarroUton was the only 
Senator present. Early in May a quorum was on 
hand and the first matter for consideration was the 
Articles of Peace ; after which the serious and arduous 
work of adjusting the new government to the new 
condition was in order. 

Charles Carroll, barrister, died at this time leaving 
no issue. 

The Assembly provided for the accommodation of 
Congress by furnishing the Stadt house for meetings, 
with the Governor's house for the President and 



EARLY DAYS OF PEACE 211 

thirteen dwelling houses one for the use of the dele- 
gation from each of the thirteen States. 

During the session, Charles Carroll of Carrollton 
filed an able and fearless paper against a bill author- 
izing judges to stril^e from the list of attorneys the 
names of men who had been disloyal to the govern- 
ment. The paper was a candid review of the condi- 
tions and was considered an able, fearless and incisive 
challenge of the good purposes of the law. 



CHAPTER XXII 

RESIGNS AS A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES 
THAT HE MAY REMAIN A SENATOR OF MARY- 
LAND — THE INDIAN COMMERCE 

The first real trouble in Congress was about pro- 
viding the machinerj^ for handling our foreign affairs. 
The Vice-president in his " Tales of a Traveller '' 
showed his opinion of the importance of diplomacy 
and the influence of diplomats. But when the bill 
came to the Senate for making provision for these 
officers there was much opposition to such offices. Mr. 
Maclay of Pennsylvania did not believe in the neces- 
sity for such expenditures. He would have no ambassa- 
dors nor ministers. '^ They would cost a great deal 
and do no good " he held. The bill was finally refer- 
red to a committee composed of Senators Story, Ells- 
worth, Carroll, Maclay and Few. This committee met 
the Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson. Maclay 
says Jefferson had a face with a sunny aspect, but was 
wanting in dignity. Evidently Mr. Jefferson was in 
favor of the country being represented in the other 
countries, for Maclay says " Jefferson had been long 
enough abroad to catch the tone of European folly." 
Finally salaries were left to the President to fix. 

Then came up again the bill to fix the permanent 
location of the national capital. There was much 
excitement and some scheming. The temporary resi- 
dence of the seat of government caused as much inter- 
est as the task of finding a permanent home. The 
House of Representatives voted for Baltimore as the 
temporary place. Philadelphia was a strong bidder 
and many Senators wanted to remain in New York till 

[213] 



214 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

the permanent home was selected and ready for 
occupancy. Mr. Carroll finally favored a bill which 
provided for a residence of ten years in Philadelphia 
after which the capital should be on the Potomac as a 
permanent location. 

A postroad bill occupied much of Mr. Carroll's time 
during the remainder of the session and was evidently 
a matter of great importance. 

The capital residence bill came up and Mr. Carroll 
furthered it in the Senate and Mr. Madison in the 
House. The President was in favor of the capital 
being located on the Potomac. Mr. Maclay spoke of 
Senators favoring the Potomac as the Carroll crowd. 
Mr. Maclay says it was the influence of Washington 
and his crowd that carried the Potomac scheme. 

The funding bill and the bill providing that the gen- 
eral government shall assume the debts created by the 
States in conducting the Revolutionary War were taken 
up, Mr. Carroll having an active interest and doing 
much of the work both in the committee and on the floor 
of the Senate. He was usually with Mr. Hamilton. 
Party lines were now being drawn pretty closely with 
the followers of Hamilton on the one side and those of 
Jefferson on the other. Mr. Carroll as chairman of 
the committee reported in favor of a plan for the 
states to loan to the general government a sum not 
exceeding twenty-two millions of dollars. 

Mr. Maclay claimed that the funding bill was the 
assumption bill and the rest of the financial legislation 
was wrapped up in the capital votes of the states 
having big debts that they wanted to unload on the 
general government. It was a case of if you will vote 
with us on the capital location w^e will vote with you on 
your pet financial measures. Anyway Hamilton's 
financial scheme and Washington's capital scheme 
both went through early and by much the same 



RESIGNS AS SENATOR 215 

influence. Mr. Carroll always on the lookout for the 
interest of Maryland wrote to Governor Howard sug- 
gesting that the State select an agent to look after its 
interest in adjusting claims with the national govern- 
ment. 

Mr. Carroll appeared in the Maryland Senate on 
Nov. 12th and was put on a committee with Mr. Henry 
to study the subject of revising the State Constitution. 
Mr. Carroll was re-elected to the United States Senate 
during this session of the Maryland Assembly. 

Upon the adjournment of the Maryland Senate Mr. 
Carroll hurried to Philadelphia to take his seat in the 
United States Senate. Philadelphia was made the 
temporary seat of government for ten years by the 
Potomac act and Congress met here December, 1790. 

Congress over, he went in March, to make a study of 
the Baltimore Iron Works with the idea of improving 
conditions there. At the second session of the first 
Congress the North Carolina Senators appeared and 
were seated. North Carolina had by this time ratified 
the Constitution. Mr. Maclay, a leading Anti-Federal- 
ist, (Democrat) says of Washington, ''he is only a 
man but a very fine one. We have nothing to fear 
from him but much from the precedents he will 
establish. ' ' 

By this time John Adams was beginning to show a 
kind of resentment or spite toward Mr. Carroll. Both 
were Federalists and both had taken the radical side 
in the Continental Congress. But Adams had three 
objections to Mr. Carroll. The first was Mr. Carroll's 
great wealth, the second that he was a Roman Catholic 
and the third that Carroll, Washington and Franklin 
had carried to success the French support and alliance 
without him. In fact they had done it in spite of him 
for he acted in a way to cause that work to be harder 
to accomplish. Mr. Maclay gives a conversation 



216 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

between Adams and Carroll that took place in his 
presence in which Adams almost passed the line of 
gentility in speaking of Mr. Carroll's estate which he 
called an Empire. 

On the 22nd of April the news of the death of Ben- 
jamin Franklin reached the country. Mr. Carroll, his 
most confidential friend in public life, moved that the 
Senators wear crape for a month in honor of his 
memory, as the House had resolved to do. Mr. Maclay 
says, '* I seconded the motion but as some one objected 
because crape had not been worn for Grayson, Mr. 
Carroll looked at me. I nodded and he withdrew the 
motion. Chas. Carroll of CarroUton felt deeply the 
death of his close friend. They had made the trip to 
Canada together and earnestly and successfully they 
had planned and worked and struggled for the assist- 
ance of France in the cause of the colonies. 

Rhode Island had not ratified the Constitution of 
the United States and there was much ado about 
what should be done with that State. Mr. Carroll 
reported a bill to cut off intercourse and to prevent 
her sending any goods into the United States. The 
bill was amended in immaterial ways and put upon its 
passage. The question of State Rights was here raised 
as a live issue for the first time. The Federalists 
voted for the bill and the Anti-Federalists, (Demo- 
crats) voted against it. 

Congress met in October and so did the Maryland 
legislative. Mr. Carroll served his State in the Mary- 
land Senate and John Henry attended the session of 
the United States Senate. Both men were members 
of both these bodies. 

Mr. Carroll in the Maryland Senate was on two 
important committees, one for preparing a bill for the 
relief of insolvent debtors and the other to prepare a 
State law in connection with ceding the territory to the 



RESIGNS AS SENATOR 217 

United States which should constitute the Federal Dis- 
trict. 

Mr. Carroll prepared a resolution instructing the 
Maryland Senators John Henry and Charles Carroll 
of Carrollton to urge the Senate of the United States 
to transact its business with open doors. 

The Maryland Assembly adjourned and Mr. Car- 
roll went at once to take his seat in the Senate of the 
United States. 

Parties were now well crystalized and in a general 
way the division was on lines that continued for 
generations. 

Mr. Carroll on October 22, wrote a letter to Hamil- 
ton going somewhat into the political situation. He 
regards the Federalists as the '' Friends of Stability, 
in other words the real friends of the government," 
and is rather suspicious of the intentions of the other 
party — the Anti-Federalists. 

The Maryland Senate met November 5. It was a 
busy Senate and a law was passed making United 
States Senators, members of Congress and others hold- 
ing office under the United States ineligible as Mem- 
bers of the Maryland Assembly. Mr. Carroll there- 
fore had to give up his position as a Maryland Senator 
or as a United States Senator. He promptly resigned 
his place in the United States Senate, preferring to 
serve his State. This he evidently considered as the 
most useful and most honorable of the two places. 
The Militia bill was the burning question of this ses- 
sion. Mr. Carroll wrote a very interesting account of 
this session to his former colleague Mr. John Henry. 

The interest of the State of Maryland in the stock 
of the Bank of England was still a subject of conten- 
tion in 1798. 

The death of General Washington was announced in 
the Maryland legislature January 1, 1800. 



218 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Charles Carroll and Uriah Forest were named as a 
committee of the Senate to report an appropriate 
memorial adress. A writer of that day says, '' One 
never witnessed a more touching sight than those two 
men standing at the rostrum of the Senate with tears 
streaming down their cheeks and trying to speak of 
their loved comrade who had just passed away. ' ' This 
act of paying a personal and public tribute to the man 
he so loved was one of the last acts of an official 
nature in the life of Mr. Carroll. 

The party of Jefferson, now known as the Repub- 
lican or Democratic party, having come into power 
both in Maryland and in National affairs, Charles 
Carroll of CarroUton retired to private life and gave 
much of his time to public good in ways that will be 
told hereafter. 

Baltimore town became Baltimore city by action on 
the report of a committee headed by Mr. Carroll. He 
also had charge of a bill which became a law providing 
for an annual lottery in aid of the new city of 
Washington. 

Mr. Carroll was in favor of the gradual abolition of 
slavery and introduced a bill in the Maryland Senate 
with this end in view, but it did not pass. 

Mr. Carroll, following the traditions of his family 
and of the Lords Proprietor of Maryland, was always 
kind, careful and considerate of the Indians. The 
friendly feeling and just treatment of the Indians of 
Maryland was everywhere known. There were no 
massacres of the whites by Indians and little or no 
swindling of Indians by the white people. The Pro- 
prietors made conveyances subject to the claims of the 
Indians and it was necessary to make a deal with any 
Indians on it before taking possession of a grant. 
This was generally easy of accomplishment, for the 



RESIGNS AS SENATOR 219 

Indians, mindful of the vast acreages further back, 
were usually quite ready to sell out for a consideration. 
Mr. Carroll knew how to handle the Indians. Both he 
and his cousin, Rev. John Carroll, had had such 
experience and full knowledge of the red men as 
enabled these two men to treat successfully with the 
Indians of the north and to keep them from joining 
the British at the commencement of the Revolutionary 
war. 

During Washington's administration war broke out 
in what is now the State of Ohio. In 1793, after a 
treaty with the Miamis and other Indians of that ter- 
ritory had been concluded, the sub-chiefs refused to 
accept the treaty and went on the war path. The army 
headquarter was at Fort Washington near the mouth 
of the Miami river, where the city of Cincinnati now 
stands, and General St. Clair was designated as com- 
mander-in-chief, and sent to quell the outbreak. He 
left the east with instructions given by General Wash- 
ington, who was a skilled Indian fighter, and knew the 
ways of the red men. He sent St. Clair with full 
instructions and above all impressed on him to beware 
of a surprise. In spite of all this St. Clair marched 
his forces from Fort Washington to what is now 
Mercon county, Ohio, and encamped for the night. 
Regardless of what Washington had told him, his 
force was surprised by the Indians and badly beaten, 
with terrible loss. The country was dazed at such a 
slaughter of the troops. Hardly such a disaster had 
occurred during the Revolutionary^ war likely. The 
Indians were so elated as to make a terrible Indian war 
likely. But St. Clair was succeeded by '' Mad " 
Anthony Wayne and the Indians were soon so far sub- 
dued as to want peace. 

At this stage it was necessarj'- for Washington to 



220 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

bring to his aid the ablest and most experienced men 
available and he wrote the following letters to Mr. 
Carroll : 

To Charles Carroll of CarroUton, 

Philadelphia, 23rd of January, 1793. 
Dear Sir: 

The western Indians having proposed to us a 
conference, at Auglaise, not far from Detroit, in 
the ensuing spring, I am now about to proceed to 
nominate three commissioners to meet and treat 
with them on the subject of peace. What may be 
the issue of the conference, it is difficult to foresee, 
but it is extremely essential that whatever it be it 
should carry with it the perfect confidence of our 
citizens that every endeavor will have been used 
to obtain peace, which their interest would permit. 
For this reason it is necessary that characters be 
appointed who are known to our citizens for their 
talents and integrity, and whose situation in life 
places them clear of every suspicion of a wish to 
prolong the war : or say rather whose interests in 
common with that of their country, is clearly to 
produce peace. Characters uniting these disider- 
ata, do not abound. Some of them are now in 
office inconsistent with the appointment now in 
question, and others under impediments of health 
or other circumstances, so as to circumscribe the 
choice within a small circle. Desirous in the first 
instance that you should be on this commission I 
have mentioned these difficulties to show you, in 
the event of your declining how serious they are, 
and to induce you to come forward and perform 
this important service to your country, a service 
with which its prosperity and tranquility are 
intimately connected. 

It wdll be necessary to set out for this place 
about the 1st of May. The route will be by the 
North River and Niagara. It will be safe, and the 
measures for your comfortable transportation and 



RESIGNS AS SENATOR 221 

subsistence will be taken as effectually as circum- 
stances will admit. 

Will you then, permit me sir, to nominate you as 
one of the Commissioners with a certain reliance 
on your acceptance? 

Your answer to this by the first post will oblige, 
dear sir, 

George Washington. 

Mr. Carroll was not able to accept this duty and so 
wrote the President. 

Beverly Randolph, Timothy Pickering and Ben- 
jamin Lincoln were afterwards appointed and con- 
cluded a treaty with the Indians that formed the basis 
of a permanent peace. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

ATTENTION TO THE ESTATE — DEATH OF HIS SON 
CHARLES OF HOMESTEAD 

In February, 1801, Charles Carroll of CarroUton, 
who had been giving much attention to the details of 
his vast estate wrote that he now had everything in 
good order, with the accounts clear and regular and in 
the condition he would lil^e to leave them when he 
departed. 

He was in favor of the election of Burr over Jeffer- 
son, and hoped that Burr would be chosen by the House 
of Representatives. He was much disgusted with the 
opinion of Jefferson as a party man and believed he 
could not act with wisdom if the views he expressed 
in a newspaper article were his real sentiments. Burr, 
he thought, might be as much of a hypocrite as Jeffer- 
son, but he believed him to be a " firm steady man, 
possessing great energy and decision." 

After his retirement from public life, Mr. Carroll 
spent a good deal of time with his daughter, Mrs. 
Caton. Her husband was an English gentleman who 
had settled on a beautiful estate given to Mrs. Caton 
by her father in Baltimore county called Brook- 
landwood. It was surrounded by fine estates of 
other wealthy people and the spot is now known as 
Catonsville. 

Charles Carroll, Jr., on the 17th of July, 1800, had 
married Harriet, daughter of Hon. Benjamin Chew, 
Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, and of the same family 
as the Chews of Virginia and Maryland. Judge Chew 
had six daughters, all famous beauties, in Pennsyl- 
vania and New York society. Mrs. Charles Carroll 
was the sister of Mrs. John Eager Howard, also of 

[223] 



224 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Maryland, and though much younger, a political and 
personal friend of Charles Carroll of CarroUton. 

Colonel Howard was also a man of great wealth and 
liberality. He gave to the city of Baltimore the land 
on which the Washington Monument stands. 

In a letter about this time Mr. Carroll writes to his 
son about some business matter and urging prompt- 
ness says ' ' Do not neglect to attend to this matter. He 
who postpones till tomorrow what can, and ought to be 
done today, will never thrive in this world. It was not 
by procrastination that this estate was acquired; but 
by activity, thought, perseverance and economy; and 
by the same means it must be preserved and prevented 
from melting away. ' * 

On July 25, 1801, a son was born to the family of 
Charles, Jr., and sending his congratulations on this 
event Mr. Carroll says, '^ I sincerely rejoice with you 
on the recent happy event, the birth of your son. May 
this child when grown to manhood be a comfort to his 
parents in the decline of life, and support the reputa- 
tion of the family." His letters to Mr. Harper contain 
many allusions to public affairs. Regarding a speech 
of Mr. Giles, he admits its ability, but says " I sus- 
pect that Jefferson, Madison and Giles have clubbed 
heads to produce that artificial piece of sophistry." 

The correspondence of Mr. Carroll at this time is 
interesting chiefly as showing the great intelligence 
and deep piety of the man. In a letter to young 
Charles at the Manor and written from the home of 
Mrs. Caton, he says in conclusion, '^ Be frugal, be 
thoughtful, be methodical. You will have great occa- 
sion for the exercise of all these qualities." He says, 
also, " Take exercise. Exercise body and mind. Both 
will become torpid and diseased if exercise and study 
be neglected and disused." 



DEATH OF HIS SON 225 

And in another letter lie says " In improving your 
mind, remember your God. The fear of the Lord, says 
the wise man, is the beginning of wisdom. Without 
virtue there can be no happiness ; and without religion 
no virtue ; consider yourself as always in the presence 
of the Ahnighty. If this sentiment be strong and vivid, 
you will never sin or commit any action you would be 
ashamed to commit before man " and this letter con- 
cludes "And peace, oh virtue, peace is all thine own. 
God bless you." 

In 1801 Catherine Carroll married Robert Goodloe 
Harper of South Carolina. 

In 1803 Mr. Carroll was one of a committee of three 
selected bj^ the governors to help boom St. John's Col- 
lege. This committee was " to publish an account of 
the state of the College, and of the advantages it 
presents and may afford. They did this so well that 
the college seemed to take a new start. 

In 1805 his son lost an infant and wrote to Mr. Car- 
roll of the great grief of the family. In feelingly 
replying to this letter the father says, ' ' Everything in 
this world is precarious. Health, riches, power and 
talents are all uncertain. Virtue alone is subject to no 
vicissitudes." 

Charles Carroll of Homestead, the son, died in 1825. 
Many tender, loving letters from his father have been 
preserved referring to his failing health. In one of 
these letters the father writes, " God bless you and 
prepare you for a better world, for the present is but 
a passing meteor compared to eternity." 

Charles of Homestead was a strikingly handsome 
man. His son Charles was the fifth of his name and 
inherited Doughoregan Manor. 

On the completion of the Erie canal connecting the 
Great Lakes with the Atlantic ocean, medals commem- 

8 



226 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

orative of the event were struck and three of gold were 
ordered presented, one each to Charles Carroll of Car- 
rollton, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the three 
surviving signers of the Declaration of Independence. 

Mr. Carroll, now in his 89th year, was still vigorous 
of intellect and fairly strong of body. He was far from 
being an infirm old man. In reply to a letter about 
this time from a friend, who spoke of the useful life 
he had led and the important things he had accom- 
plished, Mr. Carroll closed his letter with this sentence, 
* ' On the mercy of my Redeemer I rely for Salvation ; 
and on His merits; not on the works I have done in 
obedience to His precepts." 

In private life as well as he had been in public office 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton continued to be the most 
active and useful citizen of his State. He was mentor, 
guide, leader and banker for his whole section. In 
fact, he was the only man who had monej^ to lend and 
wanted to lend it for the improvement of his people. 
He had early undertaken to convert his part of the 
State from a tobacco growing to a wheat and corn 
raising section. Tobacco was a hard crop on land and 
its continued cultivation year after year was exhaust- 
ing the soil and making the land less productive and, 
therefore, less valuable as an investment. As the soil 
grew thinner the tendency to go west grew stronger 
and the natural growth of the State was retarded. 
This condition had begun to develop just before the 
beginning of the Revolutionary war and Charles Car- 
roll of Carrollton and his father had discussed it fre- 
quently and sought the best remedy to meet it. The 
Ellicott brothers came along at the right time and 
attracted by the fine water power were induced by the 
Carrolls and others to establish mills for grinding 
grain. They had been successful millers in Pennsyl- 
vania, but were convinced that this was a better field 



DEATH OF HIS SON 227 

for the operations they contemplated on a more 
extended scale. Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the 
richest capitalist in the province, stood ready to back 
the enterprise in any practical way, and he changed 
much of his farming into the cultivation of wheat, and 
other enterprising farmers followed. This change 
involved much expense in the purchase of new imple- 
ments and the erection of new buildings. But the Car- 
rolls advanced the money to those who needed it and 
they also aided in the building of roads that grain 
might the more easily be got to the mills. The Elli- 
cotts had their mills running and were producing flour 
when the w^ar began. The mill owners also built, or 
greatly assisted in building, roads in all directions and 
the country was greatly improved and the land much 
enhanced in value. The CarroUs, with the aid of farm- 
ers, on the route now had a road all the way from 
EUicotts mills to the Carrollton Manor in Frederick 
county. Of course much tobacco was still grown, but 
by the year 1780 wheat had become the main crop of 
the section. The EUicotts became general merchants 
as w^ell as millers, and by 1790 were sending quantities 
of flour to Europe and importing many lines of goods 
useful to the farmers. 

Their coming was a real benefaction to the people 
and prevented many from sacrificing their lands and 
going to new sections. With the success of grain 
growing, land values increased, incomes from the 
farms were increased and the CarroUs profited greatly 
as a consequence. By 1803 all this section of Maryland 
had practically given up the cultivation of tobacco and 
was one of the finest wheat producing sections in the 
world. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

ORGANIZING THE B. & 0. R. R.— LAFAYETTE S VISIT 
TO THE UNITED STATES IN PRIVATE LIFE 

Mr. Carroll, ever alert in promoting the welfare of 
his people, took a deep interest in the question of 
transportation, which had become a vital matter for 
Baltimore City and the section. Though over ninety 
years old he was energetic and vigorous, heard all that 
was to be said, and decided that the interest of the 
State demanded some radical action, and he was in 
favor of a railroad. Accordingly at a meeting held 
February 12, 1827, a committee of thirty-five was 
appointed to prepare a charter and petition the legis- 
lature for its enactment. Charles Carroll of Carroll- 
ton was made chairman of the committee and John 
V. L. McMahon prepared a charter which was granted 
in Maryland on the 28th of February and in Virginia 
March 8th. Thus, in sixteen days from the meeting at 
which the railroad project was adopted, the charter 
was granted in the two States through which the road 
would pass. By April 1st the necessary stock was sub- 
scribed and on April 23d the Baltimore and Ohio Eail- 
road Company was organized by the election of the 
following board of directors. Charles Carroll of Car- 
roUton, George Hoffman, Thomas Ellicott, Philip E. 
Thomas, Robert Morris, Isaac McKim, Talbot Jones, 
William Lorman, and William Stewart. Philip E. 
Lorman was made president, and George Brown 
treasurer. 

Work of locating the road went rapidly on and the 
point of its entrance within the city being agreed on, 
it was announced that the " Corner Stone " would be 

[229] 



230 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

laid July 4, 1828. There was a great civic and mili- 
tary parade, many patriotic speeches and the venerable 
and greatly beloved Charles Carroll of Carrollton 
threw the first shovel of dirt, wielded the trowel in the 
beginning of the great work in which the population 
of Baltimore was so enthusiastically interested. 

The method of propulsion had not yet been decided 
on and one experiment was with a car with sails. The 
car was built like a sleigh, body of basket, had four 
wheels and was fitted with a mast and square sails. 
Mr. B. H. Latrobe, the chief engineer of the road, Mr. 
Carroll and a nmnber of others were invited to witness 
experiments with the car. Mr. Latrobe says " though 
the car was a mere toy and unpractical as a motive 
power it served a good purpose in showing how little 
power was required to move a car on rails compared 
with the best of roads that had preceded it." 

Then steam was considered. There was a steam 
road in England, but it was a straight road, while this 
road was to have curves. Peter Cooper, who was 
largely interested in the Canton Iron Works, was sure 
that a steam locomotive could be operated on a curve 
and he proved it. Mr. Cooper built the locomotive and 
when it was completed attached an open car and made 
the trip from Baltimore to Ellicotts Mills and return. 
The car carried the directors and some friends and 
there was not a hitch in the movements of the train. 
The curves were passed and grades ascended without 
difficulty. After the trip Mr. Cooper and the entire 
party went out to the Caton estate, where Mr. Carroll 
was staying with his daughter, to tell him of the suc- 
cess of the first trip. And thus were the first obstacles 
met and railroading in America made possible in spite 
of grades and curves. 

When the corner stone of the railroad was to be laid 
the Blacksmiths' Association presented Mr. Carroll 



LAFAYETTE'S VISIT 231 

with the implements used in the work. In a letter to 
them he said " you observe that republics can exist 
and that under that form of government the people can 
be happier than under any other. That the republic 
created by the Declaration of Independence may con- 
tinue to the end of time is my fervent prayer. That 
protracted existence however will depend on the moral- 
ity, sobriety and industry of the people, and on no part 
more than on the mechanics, forming in our cities the 
greatest number of their most useful inhabitants. 

In 1824 Lafayette visited Baltimore and was 
received by Charles Carroll of CarroUton and Colonel 
John Eager Howard, the brother-in-law of Carroll's 
son. Those two were the most distinguished survivors 
of the Revolution in Maryland. John Quincy Adams, 
who accompanied Lafayette, wrote a sketch of the 
scene. The distinguished visitors were received in a 
tent formerly used by Washington, and there was a 
procession through the streets of Baltimore, in which 
Mr. Carroll was the most striking and venerable 
figure. 

During the visit of Lafayette to the United States 
Mr. Latrobe was with him a great deal and the condi- 
tions and events of 1777 were vividly recalled and 
graphicly retold. 

Democracy dawned in France during the days of 
Louis XIV. It grew brighter in the reign of Louis XV 
and by the time of Louis XVI it was shedding its rays 
all over France, and penetrating the remote corners of 
the earth. 

Charles Carroll of CarroUton caught the spirit, as 
part of the education he received in that country. He 
not only observed its w^orkings in France, but beheld 
it in the upbuilding of the party by Pitt and Burke in 
England. 

He rejoiced at the interest which the French people 



232 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

were taking in our struggle for liberty and was espe- 
cially pleased at the firm stand and practical work of 
Lafayette. He never met this famous friend of liberty 
till after the Marquis was a major-general in our army. 
But from the faithful La Fon and the alert Donnelly, 
he heard every item of news that concerned his interest 
in our cause. Reminders and recountings of all these 
things came with the visit of Lafayette to this country 
in 1824. 

The story of Lafayette 's life is one of the most inter- 
esting in history, just as he was one of the most inter- 
esting, as well as useful men of that eventful period. 
He was educated at Le Grand College in Paris, the 
same school from which Mr. Carroll had been grad- 
uated some years before. 

In 1777 he determined to cast his lot with the 
Colonies and after several vain efforts to get trans- 
portation, secured the ship Victory, invited as his 
guests a dozen other liberty-loving Frenchmen desir- 
ing to go to America and join the cause of the Colonies. 
Among them were Baron De Kalb and De Val du Mon- 
tier. After many hindrances the Victory sailed for 
Charleston, S. C. De Val got left, but secured passage 
on a ship that sailed directly for Philadelphia, and was 
there awaiting them when the Lafayette party reached 
the Capitol. The Victory had a long and tempestuous 
voyage from a port in Spain to the coast of South 
Carolina. The party, thirteen in number, rode on 
horseback from Charleston to Philadelphia, a distance 
of some 900 miles by the rough roads then available. 

On shipboard as well as during the long horseback 
ride there was constant joking about the unluclry 
number of 13. All took these jibes in good part, 
except one sedate and over-sensitive youngster, whom 
the party dubbed No. 13. On arriving in Philadelphia, 
this young man, a stranger in a land that surely was 



LAFAYETTE'S VISIT 233 

strange to him, physically worn out, as well as 
depressed in spirits, committed suicide by drowning in 
the Fairmount river. 

This incident caused much sorrow and some delay 
in getting their commissions. But De Val turned up 
as a member of the party, making the number still thir- 
teen. Lafayette made such an impression on Wash- 
ington by his pleasing personality and by his practical 
knowledge of what was doing and what was wanted 
that the commander at once recommended him for a 
commission and Congress acted promptly on the 
recommendation. All the others were provided for in 
a satisfactory manner. 

It is related that one day at Valley Forge, De Val, 
who was greatly attached to Lafayette, pointing to his 
friend, said to Col. Telghman: 

There 's the man who will be known as the mar- 
vel of the Century. Think of what he is and what 
he has done. Before reaching his twentieth birth- 
day anniversary, Lafayette had served his King 
in three different capacities, was a married man 
and the father of twins and held a commission as 
a Major General in the American Army." 

De Val settled in Louisiana at the close of the Revo- 
lution, and became one of the influential citizens of that 
part of the South, where many of his descendants are 
still to be found, while others have scattered to differ- 
ent parts of the country. He w^as alive and well when 
Lafayette visited this country in 1824, and one of the 
longest visits the Marquis made was to Louisiana to 
" see my old friend and comrade in arms, De Val du 
Montier." 

Adams and Jefferson died July 4, 1826, fifty years 
from the day they voted for independence. This left 
Mr. Carroll only survivor of the signers. On August 
2d afterwards, at a meeting in Fanueil Hall in Boston, 



234 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Daniel Webster delivered an eulogy on the two 
departed ex-presidents. In one of his splendid periods 
the great orator gave voice to the feelings of American 
hearts toward the last survivor: 

Of the illustrious signers of the Declaration of 
Independence there now remains only Charles 
Carroll. He seems an aged oak, standing alone 
on the plain, which time has spared a little longer 
after all its contemporaries have been levelled 
Avith the dust. Venerable object! we delight to 
gather round its trunk, while yet it stands, and to 
dwell beneath its shadow. Sole survivor of an 
assembly of as great men as the world has wit- 
nessed, in a transaction one of the most important 
that history records, what thoughts, what interest- 
ing reflections, must fill his elevated and devout 
soul! If he dwell on the past, how touching its 
recollections ; if he survey the present, how happy, 
how joyous, how full of the fruition of that hope 
which his ardent patriotism indulged ; if he glance 
at the future, how does the prospect of his coun- 
try's advancement almost bemlder his concep- 
tion! Fortunate, distinguished patriot! Inter- 
esting relic of the past ! Let him know that, while 
we honor the dead, we do not forget the living; 
and that there is not a heart here w^hich does not 
fervently pray that Heaven may keep him yet 
back from the society of his companions. ' ' 

Among the last recorded utterances of Charles Car- 
roll of Carrollton, often quoted as his last words, is 
that deeply impressive statement : 

I have lived to my ninety-sixth year; I have 
enjoyed continued health, I have been blessed Avith 
great wealth, prosperity, and most of the good 
things which the world can bestow — public appro- 
bation, esteem, applause ; but what I now look back 
on with the greatest satisfaction to myself is, that 
I have practiced the duties of my religion." 



CHAPTER XXV 
BIETH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE U. S. NAVY 

In 1794 Mr. Carroll had retired as a Senator from the 
State of Maryland. Undoubtedly he would have been 
a member of Washington's cabinet but for the neces- 
sity of his remaining at least for a while in the United 
States Senate. Congress had passed a law prevent- 
ing a man from holding two offices at the same time 
and Mr. Carroll had given up his position as a mem- 
ber of the United States Senate in order that he might 
be able to more advantageously support the President 
in the councils of his State. Already the party that 
was opposing the President in many things had 
secured a majority in the House of Representatives 
and it was with this condition of things that Washing- 
ton consulted Mr. Carroll in regard to re-establishing 
the United State Navy. An act of Congress had been 
passed providing for the building and operating of a 
navy under the direction of Secretary of War. 

The navy of the Colonies had been permitted to 
dwindle away. Some of the boats had become too old 
and decayed to be of use and the others were sold as 
there seemed to be no further need for a navy. But 
French spoliation had shown the necessity for a 
navy, and Congress had authorized the work to be 
undertaken. The Secretary of War was not very anx- 
ious for this addition to the duties and responsibilities 
of his office. Washington, as was his custom, sent for 
Senator Carroll and they talked the matter over. The 
two men best fitted for the work according to Senator 
Carroll's opinion, were Andrew EUicott and Commo- 
dore Jack Barry. The two latter were sent for and 

[235] 



236 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

General Knox, Secretary of War, suggested calling 
Joshua Fox. So General Washington, Charles Car- 
roll of Carrollton, Jack Barry, Andrew EUicott and 
Joshua Fox formed the committee that outlined the 
first plans for a United States Navy, and they were 
men admirably fitted for the work at hand. Ellicott 
was the son and nephew of the two great mill owners 
that Mr. Carroll had induced to come from Bucks 
County to Maryland when he determined to divert a 
large percentage of Maryland planters from tobacco 
raisers to growers of grain. The Ellicotts had pur- 
chased great tracts of land near Mr. Carroll's estate 
and had founded Ellicotts Mills, now Ellicott City. 
Andrew Ellicott was a civil engineer of great ability 
and his talents were well known both to President 
Washington and Mr. Carroll. Barry, known as the 
" Commodore " was living the life of a gentleman of 
means in Philadelphia. He believed that his days of 
activity were over. But the passage of the law pro- 
viding for a United States Navy, infused new life into 
him and he became deeply interested in the effort. 
Both Barry and Ellicott, as well as Washington and 
Carroll knew of the ability of Joshua Fox, as a con- 
structor of ships. 

The great-granddaughter of Fox, Elizabeth Bran- 
don Stanton, now or very lately living at Windy Hill 
Manor, Haldez, Miss., tells the story of her ancestor's 
connection with the beginning of the navy as shown 
by the records and her account agrees precisely with 
that given by Mr. Carroll in his letters. 

Miss Stanton says : 

When the bill was pending in Congress in the 
session of 1793 and 1794, there was an English 
Naval constructor visiting in the United States 
— Josiah Fox, born at Falmouth, England, 
October 9, 1763. He came to this countrv to see 



BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF U. S. NAVY 237 

his relatives, and, as he was about to return home, 
he received an invitation from General Knox, the 
Secretary of War, to call at the the War Office, 
General Knox having heard from Commodores 
Barry and Decatur that Josiah Fox was very 
skilled in naval architecture. Andrew Ellicott of 
West Point, the surveyor-general, introduced his 
kinsman. Fox, personally to Knox and Washing- 
ton, and they discussed the project of building a 
navy. 

Fox was a master shipbuilder, who had served 
his apprenticeship under the best ship architects 
and shipbuilders of that period in England, and 
the English navy was recognized as the finest of 
the world. He was offered inducements by those 
in authority to give his knowledge and skill to 
serving of the young republic. Those in 
authority were not satisfied with the constructors 
in their employ, they being unacquainted with the 
latest methods and improvements in shipbuilding ; 
and, not to be despised on the high seas, the 
nation's war vessels must be drafted, molded and 
constructed after the world's foremost maritime 
power. Fox was a graduate of the English School 
of Navy Architecture, and was at once employed. 

Miss Stanton from her family papers, then 
goes on to give a most interesting but succinct 
account of the work of beginning and developing 
the new navy. She says that following his intro- 
duction to those in authority, Josiah Fox under- 
went a satisfactory examination as to his quali- 
fication in the art of naval architecture before the 
Secretary of War and Commodore Barry, the 
latter of whom he had known from his youth up. 
The principal mast shipbuilders of Philadelphia 
also bore testimony to his skill in naval architec- 
ture. He was thereupon received into the public 
service as a clerk in the Department of War, until 
suitable provision could be otherwise made for 
him. At that time his advice and assistance were 
required on naval subjects and he confidently 
asserts that his models, formed to combine buoy- 



238 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

ance and capacity with fast-sailing, met the gen- 
eral approbation of those professional men to 
whom the Secretary of War submitted them. 

After the models had been decided on, he was 
employed the remainder of the year in laying 
down the draughts in the model loft and super- 
intending making the molds. The four ships 
which he drafted were the " United States," 
'' Constitution," " Constellation," and the one 
intended to have been built at Norfolk, the work 
on which finally fell to him. 

Barry was made Superintendent of Naval con- 
struction and Fox Naval Constructor. It can be 
said without fear of successful contradiction that 
no group of vessels designed by any one man in 
the world's naval history ever achieved the 
remarkable and lasting pre-eminence of the 
frigates and sloops of war which were the crea- 
tions of Josiah Fox. Among them were these 
historic fighting ships: 

No. of 
Frigates Guns 

'' Constitution " 44 

'^ United States " 44 

The One at Norfolk 44 

" Crescent," built for Dey of Algiers 36 

''Chesapeake" (2) 44 

'' Constellation " 36 

'' John Adams" 32 

" Portsmouth " 22 

''Hornet " 18 

" Wasp " 18 

" Ferret" 12 

and a greater part of the numerous gunboats. 

The old " Constitution " also is a monument 
to the first American naval constructor. It w^as 
finished in 1798 and saw service under Commo- 
dore Barry against the French in 1799. Of the 
old ship's many sea fights, the most renowned 
was her engagement with the British man-of-war 
" Guerrier," commanded by Captain Dacres. To 



BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF U. S. NAVY 239 

avenge the insults hurled at his brave ship, Cap- 
tain Isaac Hull sailed in search of the " Guer- 
rier," August 12, and seven days later came in 
range. The mizen mast of the ' ' Guerrier ' ' was 
shot away; her mast was inslings and her hull, 
spars and sails were torn to threads by the gun- 
ners of ' ' Old Ironsides ' ' — approbiously clept 
by the old English press: ^'A bundle of pine- 
boards sailing under a bit of striped bunting." 
Those boasted broadsides from English walls did 
not drive the paltry ' ' striped bunting ' ' from the 
high seas: Captain Dacres struck his flag to 
intrepid Captain Isaac Hull and the Stars and 
Stripes of the Baby Republic waved triumphantly 
over the British Lions. Hull only lost seven men 
killed ; Dacres counted seventy killed and wounded 
on his bloody deck. 

In the " Constellation " Captain Tuxton went 
to sea in the war against France, and in 1799, he 
captured ' ' L 'Isurgente, ' ' thirty-six guns for 
which deed Congress awarded him a gold medal. 

The action of the '' Constellation " with " La 
Vengeance " has always been considered one of 
the warmest combats between frigates on record. 
The result of this engagement produced great 
exultation in America and was very gratifying to 
the national pride. It was claimed as a victory 
of 38 over 34. The country proclaimed the new 
marine was equal to any on the seas. 

Captain John Barry was familiarly known as 
the Commodore, a title frequently given by cour- 
tesy but not known in the American Navy till 1862. 
It was given by courtesy to men in civil life, who 
had attained fame in marine matters as in the 
case of Commodore Vanderbilt of New York and 
Commodore Hooper of Baltimore. Barry received 
commission No. 1 in the new United States Navy, 
as he had in the navy of the United Colonies, but 
his work on the seas in the Federal navy was not 
of long duration as he died not long after hoisting 
his flag as " Commodore of the Constitution," the 
first ship to be finished. 



240 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Of the three men called into consultation by- 
Washington, Knox and Carroll to develop the 
American Navy, Andrew EUicott became an 
instructor at West Point, where he spent the 
remainder of his life. 

Commodore Jack Barry died in the service as 
the first conunanding officer of the American 
Navy and in conmiand of the ship Constitution. 
He was a man of great ability and of conspicuous 
personal virtues. He used no strong drink, at a 
period when nearly all men were drinkers, and he 
never used profane language, when it was common 
for all sailors to swear and most captains believed 
that profanity was essential to a proper emphasis 
of their commands. 

Joshua Fox, a member of the Society of 
Friends, was exconmiunicated for his contribution 
to the war, but in 1817, after peace had been 
declared, he was restored to membership and 
man^^ of his descendants are today members of 
the Society of Friends in Philadelphia. 

Josiah Fox, after spending fifteen years in the 
service of the United States, removed with his 
family to Wheeling in 1811, and to Colerain, Bel- 
mont County, Ohio, 1814, where he died. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

LOUIS L£ GRANDE COLLEGE WHERE THE SPARE 
OF LIBERTY WAS FANNED INTO A FLAME — CAR- 
ROLL AND LAFAYETTE 

One cannot study the lives of Charles Carroll of 
Carrollton, Lafayette and the hundreds of others of its 
graduates equally earnest in the cause of liberty, 
though not so well known, without having the highest 
regard for Louis Le Grand College of Paris. It must 
have been a hotbed of Democracy and an earnest and 
conscientious developer of the spark of liberty that 
Christianity had been faithfully guarding since the 
days of the Roman Empire. 

The Christian religion not only brought to mankind 
a new philosophy but it instilled in the minds of its 
followers a doctrine that was astounding to the rulers 
and learned men of that period. This was the declara- 
tion of the equal rights of men. When it announced 
that the humblest slave in the Roman Empire had an 
immortal soul as important as the soul of Caesar, it 
laid the foundation of that structure of Democracy, 
that in years to come was to elevate man and revolu- 
tionize the world. It took the spirit of this truth three 
hundred years to get well started but once fully alive 
it has never been entirely suppressed. 

This old College of Louis Le Grand taught that the 
Christian religion had given to the world the only 
things that make human progress possible and stand 
for the elevation of mankind. 

Christianity brought to this civilization the idea of 
an immortal soul, of the equality of man, and of the 
family. The promotion of these is progress, their 

[241] 



242 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

repression is a relapse into barbarism. The Church 
never taught the divine right of Kings nor encouraged 
any such idea. It accepted Kings as it accepted other 
conditions that it found; and endeavored to right the 
great wrongs which they afflicted by leavening the 
whole mass of humanity and gradually working over 
the world as it found it into a better and a nobler 
world. The claim of the divine right of Kings is com- 
paratively a modern one. It had been merely hinted 
at before, but had its full fruition in the claims and 
acts of the rulers of the German states some four 
hundred years ago. These doctrines of that period 
formed the foundation of that German " Kultur " of 
which we hear so much today. 

The College of Louis Le Grand taught that man 
possessed certain inalienable rights which could not 
be taken from him in fairness to the race and that 
** among them were life, liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness." 

And the students went abroad and talked about what 
they had imbibed. There were other such institutions 
teaching the rights of man as among the fundamen- 
tal doctrines of the Christian religion; and they too 
sent out their graduates to spread the doctrine of 
liberty and equality. 

It was in this way that France became the cradle 
of democracy and in these conditions is found the rea- 
son for so many of her sons espousing the side of our 
forefathers in their struggle for liberty. The spiritual 
reasons that moved men like Lafayette, De Kalb, and 
De Val were infinitely more powerful than could have 
been any efforts founded on political intrigue, or on 
the hatred of another nation. 

Our obligations to France, which we are endeavor- 
ing to repay in some slight degree, are too deep to be 
measured by dollars or to be estimated by the material 



CARROLL AND LAFAYETTE 243 

aid rendered us by the valor of her sons. France 
now struggling to save the soul of the world is the 
same beautiful and lovable France that did so much 
to develop that soul through the work done by her 
institutions of learning long ago in implanting the love 
of liberty and the equality of men into the hearts of 
such men as Lafayette and Charles Carroll of Carroll- 
ton. 

The love of the American people for Lafayette and 
the high esteem in which his memory is held was 
expressed by the presentation of a statue of the great 
French soldier, statesman and friend of America by 
the school children of this country to the people of 
France. The statue was unveiled July 4, 1900, and 
Archbishop Ireland was sent by President McKinley 
to deliver the address at the unveiling. 

The love of this people for France and for Lafayette 
was never more forcefully and could not be more 
beautifully expressed than was done by the eloquent 
prelate on that occasion. 

We append an abstract from this address. 

We speak to France in the name of America, 
under commission from her chief magistrate, Wil- 
liam McKinley, from her Senate and House of 
Representatives, from her youths who throng her 
schools, and from the tens of millions of her 
people who rejoice in the rich inheritance won in 
years past by the allied armies of France and 
America. We are bidden by America to give in 
the hearing of the world testimony of the grati- 
tude to France. 

Once weak and poor in sore need of sympathy 
and succor, to-day the peer of the mightiest, self- 
sufiBcing, asking for naught save the respect and 
friendship to which her merits may entitle her, 
the republic of the United States of America holds 
in loving remembrance the nation from which in 
the days of her dire necessity there came to her 



244 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

powerful and chivalrous support. Noble men 
and noble nations forgive injuries ; they never for- 
get favors. 

There is a land which is above all other lands 
the land of chivalry, of noble impulse and gen- 
erous sacrifice, the land of devotion to ideals. 
At the call of a high-born principle her sons, mth 
souls attuned by nature to the harmonies of the 
true and the beautiful, leap instinctively into the 
arena, resolved at any cost to render such prin- 
ciple a reality in the life-current of humanity. 
The pages of its history glisten with the names 
of heroes and martyrs, of knightly soldiers and 
saintly missionaries. It is of France I speak. 

At the close of the last century France was, 
more than ever, ready to hearken to an appeal 
made in the name of human rights. The spirit 
of liberty was hovering over the land, never again 
to depart from it, even if for a time baffled in its 
aspirations by the excesses of friends or the 
oppression of foes. To France America turned 
and spoke her hopes and fears; her messengers 
pleaded her cause in Paris; quick and generous 
was the response which France gave to the appeal. 
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette! Oh, 
that words of mine could express the full burning 
love which our Revoluntionary sires did bear to 
this illustrious son of old Auvergne! Oh, that 
I could pronounce his name with the reverence 
with which my countrymen across the sea wish me 
to pronounce it before the people of France! In 
America two names are the idols of our national 
worship, the burden of fireside tale, the inspira- 
tion of the poet's song, the theme of the orator's 
discourse; the name of him who was the Father 
of his Country — George Washington; and the 
name of him who was the true and trusty friend 
of Washington, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de 
Lafayette. 

Strange w^ere it if America did not cherish the 
name of Lafayette. He loved America. *' From 
the moment that I heard the name of America," 



CAEROLL AND LAFAYETTE 245 

said he, * ' I loved her ; from the moment I learned 
of her struggles for liberty, I was inflamed with 
the desire of shedding my blood for her." He 
miderstood, above most men of his time, the full 
significance of America 's contest. * * Never, ' ' said 
he, " had so noble a purpose offered itself to the 
judgment of men; it was the last struggle for 
liberty, and its defeat would have left freedom 
without a home and without hopes. ' ' His devotion 
to America was as unselfish as it was intense. 
* ' I offer myself, ' ' he wrote, ' ' to serve the United 
States with all possible zeal without pension or 
allowance." 

Wealth and rank, the favors of court and King, 
high distinction in the services of his own country, 
the endearments of wife and child — all that 
ambition could covet or opportunity promise, 
the youth of nineteen summers put resolutely' 
aside to cast his lot with a far-off people battling 
against fearful odds — and that at a moment when 
their fortunes were at their lowest ebb, and hope 
had well nigh abandoned their standard. When 
the agent of America in France sadly confessed 
that he was even unable to furnish a ship to carry 
him and other volunteers, Lafayette said: ** I 
will buy a ship and take your men with me. ' ' 

By his magnanimity of soul, and by his grace 
of manner not less than by his military prowess, 
he won all hearts and became the idol of the 
American army. He proved himself to the inmost 
fibre of his soul an American, as proud of 
America as the proudest of her patriots, the 
champion before all contestants of her honor and 
her fair name. More cheerfully even than his 
American companions in arms he bore the terrible 
hardships of the war ; again and again he pledged 
his personal fortune to buy food and clothing for 
his men, who knew him by the familiar appellation 
of — " The Marquis, the soldiers friend." In 
camp and in battle his influence was boundless; 
a word of cheer from his lips roused the drooping 
spirits of his soldiers; a word of command sent 



246 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

them headlong against the enemy. A visitor to 
the American camp, the Marquis de Chastellux, 
could not help remarking that Lafayette was 
never spoken of without manifest tokens of at- 
tachment and affection. 

But much as Lafayette deserves and receives 
our love and honor in return for his personal 
service in the cause of America, his chief title 
to the gratitude of our people is that his heroic 
figure ever looms up before their entranced fancy 
as the symbol of the magnanimity which France 
as a nation displayed towards our country in 
her laborious struggle for life and liberty. The 
value of the aid given to us by France in our war 
for independence is inestimable. The joy which 
the memory of it awakens in our souls is that 
which comes to us through the consciousness of 
our national life itself. France stood first sponsor 
for our nationhood. We entered into the great 
family of nations leaning on her arm, radiant with 
the reflection of her histrionic splendor, and strong 
in the protection of her titantic stature. When 
Franklin stood in the palace of Versailles, the 
acknowledged envoy of America, and Gerard de 
Rayneval, as the minister of France, saluted the 
Congress of America at Philadelphia, the young 
republic thrilled with new life and leaped at once 
into a full sense of security and a true conscious- 
ness of her dignity. 

Let historians relate as they will that the King 
and minister of France saw in the revolt of the 
America colonies, and in the assistance that might 
be given them, an opportunity for France to 
avenge the humiliation of the treaty of 1763. It is 
is not for us to demand that statesmen became for 
our sake oblivious of the interests of their own 
country. \Miat America knows, what she will 
never fail to know, is that King and ministers of 
France gave us the aid through which we won our 
independence, and that they gave it to us in warm- 
est friendliness and with most chivalrous gen- 
erosity, and that in giving to us such aid they 



CAEBOLL AND LAFAYETTE 247 

were applauded by the noble-hearted people of 
France, who loved America and encouraged the 
alliance of their country with her, because of the 
great principles which were linked with the 
triumph or the defeat of the new republic of the 
west. 

The war of America was waged for a mighty 
principle of deepest import to the welfare of hu- 
manity. It rose thereby immensely above other 
wars in solemn grandeur of meaning. The prin- 
ciple at stake was that of civil and political liberty, 
the triumph of which in America would be the 
presage of its triumph in the world. It was this 
principle that shed singular glory upon the battle- 
fields of America. America rose in rebellion 
against arbitrary and absolute government; she 
unsheathed the sword in the name of the rights of 
man and of the citizen. 

There is but one who in His own right has 
power to rule over men — Almighty God — and 
from Him is derived whatever authority is ex- 
ercised in human society. That authority is not, 
however, directly given to the one or the few; it 
is communicated by him to the people to be exer- 
cised in the form which they choose, by those 
whom they designate. And the men in whom this 
authority is invested by delegations of the people 
are to use it not for the benefit of the one or the 
few, but for the good of the people. All this is 
the plain teaching of reason and religion, and yet 
not seldom were such simple truths forgotten, not 
seldom in practice was power held as if it be- 
longed to dynasties and classes, and exercised as 
if *'the human race lived for the few." The 
rebellion of a people on so large a scale as was 
the uprising of the American colonies could not 
but challenge universal attention, and the triumph 
of such a rebellion could not but stir other peoples 
to a sense of their rights and to a stern resolve to 
maintain them. 

It will not, assuredly, be said that the republi- 
can form of government is vital to a well-ordered 



248 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

State, nor that without it the rights of the people 
cannot be safeguarded, nor that it is the best and 
proper policy for every people. The form of a 
government is a question that must rest with the 
people of each nation, to be determined solely by 
them according to their special needs and their 
dispositions of character. It is, nevertheless, true 
that the republican form of government is of it- 
self peculiarly expressive of the limitations and 
responsibilities of power, and consequently the 
founding of a republic such as that of the United 
States was a momentous event for liberty through- 
out the entire world. In every commonwealth the 
people's sense of their rights and power was 
quickened, and there sprang up in the consciences 
of the rulers of nations a new conception of their 
responsibilities towards the people. Whatever 
to-day in any country the particular form of 
government, democracy is there in some degree; 
and it is there because of its plenary triumph in 
America, whence went forth the charmed spell that 
reached, were it but in weakened waves, the utter- 
most bounds of civilized humanity. 

The creation of the republic of the United 
States was the inauguration of a new era in the 
life of the human race — the era of the rights of 
manhood and of citizenship and of the rights of 
the people. Such is the true meaning of the 
American Revolution, the full significance of the 
work done in America by Lafayette and France. 

This is the age of the people. Every decade 
will mark an advance in the triumphant march of 
democracy. Political movements do not go back- 
ward; the people do not abandon, except under 
duress, and then only for a time, rights of which 
they were once possessed, or the power which they 
have once wielded to maintain and enlarge those 
rights. To seek for arguments against democracy 
in its apparent perils is a waste of time. The part 
of true statesmanship is to study the perils such 
as may be and take measures to avert them. 
The progress of democracy cannot be stayed. He 



CAilROLL AND LAFAYETTE 249 

who would rule must rule through the people, 
through the individual men who constitute the 
people. To obtain results in the civil and political 
world he must go to the individual, enlighten his 
mind, form his conscience and thus enlist his sym- 
pathies and win his intelligent co-operation. He 
who does this will succeed; he who uses other 
methods will fail. The task for those who would 
rule men is made more difficult. The time is long 
gone by when men can be swayed by word or proc- 
lamation. But manhood in men has meanwhile 
grown, and they who love manhood in men should 
rejoice. 

Why should we be asked to regret the coming 
of democracy? What is it in its ultimate analyis 
but the practical assertion of the dignity of man, 
indelibly impressed upon him when he was joined 
to the image of the Creator? What is it but trust 
in the power of truth and righteousness, and in 
the readiness of the human soul to respond to 
such influences? The growth of mind and will in 
the individual is what all must hail who believe in 
human progress, or in the strength of Christian 
civilization. And as mind and will grow in men, 
so grow in him the consciousness of his rights and 
power, and the resolve to uphold rights, to put 
power into act, and to resist all irrational or 
unnecessary restraint upon either rights or power 
— and thus is begotten democracy. The new age 
has dawned for all humanity ; but, where men have 
the more quickly and the more thoroughly under- 
stood their dignity, there its golden rays have 
risen higher above the horizon, and shed more 
richly their light uponhuman thought and action. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

BENEVOLENT AND BUSINESS INTERESTS — AN 
INTERESTING LETTER FROM GENERAL WASH- 
INGTON—CLOSING OF A GREAT CAREER 

The political activities of Charles Carroll of Car- 
rollton ceased in 1801. He had been and remained a 
firm Federalist ; and when the Anti-Federalist wave led 
by Jefferson swept over the country, he f omid himself 
in a hopeless minority in both state and national 
affairs. 

Retiring from the activities of a long and most suc- 
cessful career he found ample scope for his efforts 
and his energies in the management of his great estate 
and in promoting the interests of his community in 
many ways. 

As the banker of his section he was able to advance 
the interests of his people. He encouraged foreign 
trade, developed wheat growing, enlarged and modern- 
ized the manufacture of iron, developed transporta- 
tion, encouraged and endowed schools and colleges and 
supported the first successful effort to make fruit 
growing a business enterprise. To this end he secured 
the Manor, on the eastern shore of which Poplar 
island was the principal part and contained the Manor 
house. Here Leonard Green, the third Marylander of 
that name, had come into a great estate, which had 
been the property of his grandmother, Dorothy 
Leonard. A series of litigations had followed, one 
after another, till the property was badly run down. 
It embraced some t^vo thousand acres, one-third being 
the island, and the remainder mainland. There was 
an accepted theory that fruit could thrive best when 

[251] 



252 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

near the salt water. This, then, was an ideal spot. 
Mr. Carroll secured the tract and with some people in 
whom he had confidence began on a large scale the cul- 
tivation of fruit. Fruit trees of many kinds were 
planted, but peaches were made the principal crop 
because of the quick growth of the trees. Grafting and 
budding were unknown and the peach trees grew larger 
and were much longer in maturing than in after years. 
The effort was undertaken in 1812, and it was 1820 
before much in results was shown. But the idea 
caught and Ridgeway of Delaware quickly followed, 
and about the year 1815 planted the first orchard of 
that state. 

Want of transportation facilities hampered the 
effort for a good while, but the idea triumphed and 
fruit growing as outlined in the dreams of Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton became a reality, and the bases 
of many fortunes. He insisted on the culture of 
English walnuts being tried and had twenty trees 
planted. The growth was slow, but to the present day 
English walnuts of fine quality are grown all through 
that section. As the result of this effort many trees 
now in full bearing were planted during Mr. Carroll's 
lifetime. Figs were also successfully tried and are still 
grown in the vicinity, but were never made an article 
of commerce. 

Whoever had a practical idea that seemed to promise 
well for the interest of the section could go to Mr. 
Carroll for financial aid. Late in life he said, speaking 
for his father, himself and his immediate associates: 
'' When you consider how many and how varied are 
the undertakings we fostered it is amazing how little 
money we ever lost in that way. Surely we must have 
been very successful in backing the right people." 

At this time, in the latter years of his life, he had a 
substantial and handsomely fitted up sailboat in which 



CLOSING OF A GREAT CAREER 253 

he delighted to travel. It was nicely equipped with 
sleeping rooms below and on deck and every comfort 
for a man of his age and taste was provided. To-day 
it would be a yacht, but at that time it was just '' Mr. 
Carroll 's pungy. ' ' And ' ' the pungy ' ' was every- 
where a welcome visitor and its coming was an event of 
interest in all regions of watercourses and boat travel. 

He continued to be deeply interested in religious and 
educational matters and w^as a liberal giver to all good 
causes. St. John's College at Annapolis and George- 
town College in the District of Columbia were both 
dear to his heart. But he contributed liberally to 
public benefactions and to educational institutions to 
the end of his long life. 

He kept up a friendly correspondence with old 
friends in many parts of the country and derived great 
pleasure from the letters he received from these 
friends. Newspapers were not as numerous or as com- 
prehensive as now, and much interesting information 
was passed along by letters. To an old friend, Rev. 
John Sanf ord, an Episcopal clergjTuan, he wrote : 

Doughoregan, October 9, 1827. 

Reverend and Dear Sir: — 

I was yesterday favored with your friendly let- 
ter of the 10th past, and the discourses on the 
opening of the House of Refuge and on the death 
of Jefferson and Adams. The former I have read. 
With the latter I am highly pleased and I sin- 
cerely thank you for your pious wishes for my 
happiness in the life to come. Your sentiments 
on religious liberty coincide entirely with mine. 
To obtain religious, as well as civil liberty, I 
entered zealously into the Revolution, and observ- 
ing the Christian religion divided into many sects, 
I founded the hope that no one would be so pre- 
dominant as to become the religion of the State. 



254 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

That hope was thus early entertained, because all 
of them joined in the same cause, with few excep- 
tions of individuals. God grant that this religious 
liberty may be preserved in these States to the 
end of time and that all believing in the religion 
of Christ may practice the leading principle of 
charity, the basis of every virtue. 

I remain with great respect, Rev. Sir, 
Your most humble servant, 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 

Mr. Carroll always took great pleasure and pride in 
recalling that his co-religionists of America were on 
the patriot side during the Revolutionary struggle to 
a man. Mr. Latrobe related that he used to say, 
' * may be there was one Catholic in America that took 
the British side. But if so he left no record of it, and 
we are glad he did not." 

After the inauguration of Washington a committee 
composed of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Daniel 
Carroll, Dominick Lynch and Thomas Fitz Simmons, 
representing the laity, and Bishop John Carroll, repre- 
senting the clergy, sent an address of congratulation 
to the President, admirable for its sentiments of 
exalted patriotism. In reply President Washington 
sent the following; 

To Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Daniel Carroll 
and members of your coimnittee ; and through 
you to the Roman Catholics of the United 
States. 

While I now receive with much satisfaction 
your congratulations on my being called by a 
unanimous vote to the first station in my country, 
I cannot but duly notice your politeness in offer- 
ing an apology for the unavoidable delay. As 
that delay has given you an opportunity of realiz- 
ing, instead of anticipating, the benefits of gen- 



CLOSING OF A GREAT CAREER 255 

eral government, you will do me the justice to 
believe that your testimony to the increase of the 
public prosperity enhances the pleasure which I 
should otherwise have experienced from your 
affectionate address. 

I feel that my conduct in war and in peace has 
met with more general approbation than could 
reasonably have been expected ; and I find myself 
disposed to consider that fortunate circumstances, 
in a great degree, resulting from the able support 
and extraordinary candour of my fellow-citizens 
of all denominations. 

The prospect of national prosperity now before 
us is truly animating, and ought to excite the 
exertions of all good men to establish and 
secure the happiness of their country, in the per- 
manent duration of its freedom and independence. 
America, under the smile of Divine Providence, 
the protection of a good government, the cultiva- 
tion of manner,, morals and piety, can hardly fail 
of attaining to an uncommon degree of eminence 
in literature, coimnerce, agriculture, improve- 
ments at home and respectability abroad. 

As mankind become more liberal they will be 
more apt to allow that all those who conduct them- 
selves as worthy members of the community, are 
equally entitled to the protection of civil govern- 
ment. I hope ever to see America among the fore- 
most nations in examples of justice and liberality. 
And I presume that your fellow-citizens will not 
forget the patriotic part, w^hich you took in the 
accomplishment of their revolution and the estab- 
lishment of their government, or the important 
assistance, which they received from a nation in 
which the Roman Catholic religion is professed. 

I thank you gentlemen, for your kind concern 
for me. While my life and my health shall con- 
tinue, in whatever situation I may be, it shall be 
my constant endeavor to justify the favorable 
sentiments you are pleased to express of my con- 
duct. And may the members of your society in 



256 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

America, animated alone by the pure spirit of 
Christianity and still conducting themselves as the 
faithful subjects of our free government, enjoy 
every temporal and spiritual felicity. 
Very truly yours, 

George Washington. 
December 14th, 1789. 

This letter Mr. Carroll retained for many years as 
it came to him as chairman of the committee. He 
finally turned it over to Bishop Carroll, and it rested 
in the Church Archives in Baltimore till 1876, when it 
was loaned to be taken to Philadelphia as part of the 
interesting papers connected with Colonial days, which 
Maryland could show. Governor John Lee Carroll, 
great grandson of the signer, was the Centennial 
Governor of the State, and the Maryland exhibit of 
Colonial letters and relics was among the most inter- 
esting shown on that memorable occasion. 

On the 2d day of August, 1826, which was the fiftieth 
anniversary of the actual signing of the Declaration of 
Independence, Mr. Carroll addressed to his country- 
men this touching communication : 

Grateful to Almighty God for the blessings 
which, through Jesus Christ Our Lord, He has 
conferred on my beloved country in her emanci- 
pation and on myself in permitting me, under cir- 
cumstances of mercy, to live to the age of 89 years, 
and to survive the fiftieth year of independence, 
adopted by Congress on the 4th of July 1776, 
which I originally subscribed on the 2d day of 
August of the same year and of which I am now 
the last surviving signer. I do hereby recom- 
mend to the present and future generations the 
principles of that important document as the best 
earthly inheritance their ancestors could bequeath 
to them, and pray that the civil and religious lib- 






jiMiv ^rcccf/ts>cy J^ 












//a/d^d. 



'7 



CLOSING OF A GREAT CAREER 257 

erties they have secured to my country may be 
perpetuated to remotest posterity and extended 
to the whole family of men. 

Chakles Carroll of Carrollton. 

August 2, 1826. 

Only a month before he had received the news of the 
death of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. His 
friends were fearful of the consequences of the shock 
which this news might produce. But he heard it with 
the same spirit of Christian philosophy that had sus- 
tained him all through life, and survived more than six 
years. And these were not years of despondency or 
of an old man sitting around waiting for the end to 
come. They were years of interest and activity. He 
met people, discussed events, transacted business and 
aided in promoting public enterprises. Until the last 
year of his life he walked, rode, drove and went in his 
boat wherever interest or inclination called him. He 
spent most of the time with his daughter but made 
frequent visits and transacted much business at the 
Manor. 

On Wednesday 14th of November 1832, Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton passed away. He died at the 
house of his daughter on Pratt Street, Baltimore, in 
what was afterwards called Old town. 

It was towards sundown. The weather was very 
cold. In a large room, his bedroom, he sat in an easy 
chair before an open fireplace. On a table were 
blessed candles, an antique bowl of holy water and a 
crucifix. By his side, Rev. Jno. C. Chance, President 
of St. Mary's College, in rich robes offered the last 
rites. On each side of his chair knelt a daughter and 
grandchildren. In the rear were three or four old 
negro servants kneeling in reverence. 

The assemblv made a picture never to be forgotten. 
9 



258 CHAELES CAEROLL OF CAEEOLLTON 

The venerable patriot went through the ceremony with 
evident pleasure and refusing nourishment said ' ' This 
supplies all the wants of Nature. I desire no food." 
He was placed in bed. It was after midnight when 
he passed away. 

His body reposes in the chapel at Doughoregan 
Manor. On the gospel side of the altar is a monument 
erected by order of the late Charles Carroll, grandson 
of the signer and father of Governor John Lee Carroll. 
The work was executed by Mr. Bartholomew in Eome, 
in 1853. 

The city, the sta/te and the nation mourned. There 
were memorial meetings, resolutions, letters and ser- 
mons of sympathy that would make volumes. From 
the faithful servants at Doughoregan Manor to the 
President of the United States there came expressions 
of sorrow and tributes of admiration and love. 

In 1868 the Congress of the United States invited 
each state to send to Statuary Hall in the Capitol at 
"Washington statues of two of its citizens that it most 
desired to honor and whose fame it would help perpet- 
uate in this way. The State of Maryland selected 
Charles Carroll of CarroUton as its first choice under 
the terms of this invitation. 

The legislature made an ample appropriation, the 
work was artistically done and the Statue of Charles 
Carroll of CarroUton in the act of signing the Decla- 
ration of Independence stands in Statuary Hall sur- 
rounded by others who have contributed to the found- 
ing and upbuilding of this Eepublic. 

But strange as it may appear, in an assemblage of 
counterfeit presentments of the country's great men, 
selected by each of the states in response to such invi- 
tation, Mr. Carroll stands in the company of but four 
other signers and one of these is John Hanson from 
his own state of Maryland. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 
THE CARROLLS OF THE PAST AND OF TO-DAY 

The history of the Carroll family is an emphatic 
contradiction of the oft told story that an American 
family "runs out" in about the third or fourth 
generation. 

The CarroUs have been strong men and women 
intellectually, morally and physically through all 
these years. The first Charles Carroll who came to 
America from Kings County was a man powerful in 
intellect and vigorous as well as successful in the 
accomplishment of his purposes. The archives show 
that Charles Carroll, the Attorney-General, was one 
of the most influential men in the Province, who 
founded the city of Baltimore, introduced the manu- 
facture of iron and accomplished many things for the 
good of the people. He lived to see his son the Signer 
become one of the leading and most useful men in the 
Colonies, and himself occupied important public posi- 
tion in his 75th year. Of the Signer himself, these 
pages have told an inadequate but fair and truthful 
story. 

Governor John Lee Carroll was one of the ablest 
and best men the State of Maryland ever produced. 
He was the Centennial Governor of the Common- 
wealth, and no State of the Union in 1876 had a chief 
executive of whom her citizens could be or were more 
justly proud. 

Mr. Charles Carroll of CarroUton, head of the 
family, is a man of the finest social and business 
qualifications, and is a liberal contributor of money 
and effort to every worthy cause. He is much in 

[259] 



260 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

France of late, greatly to the advantage of every 
work in which his countrymen are interested. 

Mr. Philip Acosta Carroll is now serving his coun- 
try as captain in the Aviation service of the American 
Expeditionary Force in France. He is a brother of 
the present Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 

Mr, Charles Bancroft Carroll, the youngest grown- 
up member of the family, is now serving his country 
as an officer in the United States Navj^ 

FROM AN OLD RECORD 

Charles Carroll (alias 'Carroll), second son. of 
Daniel 'Carroll of Litterluna, was of the Inner Tem- 
ple, London ; emigrated to Maryland, 1688 ; and dying 
in 1747, he left issue : 

Charles Carroll of Doughoregan Manor, Howard 
County, Md., b. 1702; d. 1782; Attorney-General of 
Maryland. He m. Elizabeth Brooke, and had a son: 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Md., b. 1737, d. 1832; 
Signer of the Declaration of Independence. He m., 
in 1768, Mary, daugther of Henry Darnall, Jr., and 
d. 1833. He left issue : 

1. Charles Carroll, of whom presently. 

2. Mary, m. Richard Caton of Maryland. They had 
four daughters: (1) Marianne, who m., 1st, Robert 
Patterson; 2dly, Oct. 25, 1825, Richard Colley, Mar- 
quis of Wellesley, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Gov. 
Gen. of India, and elder brother of Arthur, Duke of 
Wellington. (2) Elizabeth, m. Baron Stafford. 
(3) Louisa Katherine, m. 1st Sir Felton Bathhurst 
Hervey, Baronet; 2dly, 1828, Francis Godolphin 
D'Arcy, seventh Duke of Leeds. (4) Emily, m. John 
Mactavish, British Consul in Baltimore, father of 
Charles Carroll Mactavish, who married a daughter 
of Gen. Winfield Scott, U. S. A. 



CAKROLLS OF THE PAST AND TO-DAY 261 

3. Catherine, m. Gen. Robert Goodloe Harper of 
South Carolina, and had: (1) Charles, m. Miss 
Chafelle of South Carolina (2) Robert, died at sea 
(3) Emily. 

Col. Charles Carroll, only son of Charles Carroll, 
the signer, d. 1861; m. 1799, Harriet Chew, daughter 
of Hon. Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of Pennsyl- 
vania, and had issue: 

1. Charles, of whom presently. 

2. Mary Sophia, b. 1804; d. at Philadelphia 1886; 
m. Richard H. Bayard, U. S. Senator from Delaware ; 
d. at Philadelphia 1868. They had: (1) Mary Louisa, 
m., 1st William Henry Beck, d. 1859; 2dly, Col. Manlio 
Battarina. (2) Caroline, m. Henry Baring Powell of 
Philadelphia ; d. 1852, and had : Mary de Vaux, wife of 
Rev. George Woolsey Hodge of Philadelphia; issue. 
(3) Elizabeth, m. Col. Frederick Henry Rich of 
English army. (4) Charles Carroll, U. N. N. 
(5) Richard Bassell, d. 1878; m. 1860, Ellen Gilmor 
Howard, and had: Ellen H., Richard H. (6) Harriet, 
m. Christian Bors of Norway; issue. (7) Louisa, m. 
Richard Ashhurst Bowie of Philadelphia; issue; 
Richard H. Bayard Bowie of Philadelphia. 

3. Louisa, d. 1870; m. Isaac Rand Jackson of Phila- 
delphia, d. 1842, and had: (1) Harriet Carroll, who 
m. Leonard Douglas H. Currie of the English army; 
issue. (2) Charles Carroll of New York, m. Minnie 
Coster; issue. (3) Oswald of New York, m. Ella 
Willing. (4) Mary Ellen, m. Nalbro Frazier, Jr., of 
Philadelphia; issue; Louisa, Helena C. 

4. Harriet, m. John Lee of Needwood, Md., and had: 
(1) Mary Digges, d. 1868; m. Dr. Jonathan Letterman, 
U. S. A. ; issue. (2) Dr. Charles Carroll of New York, 
m. Helen Parish of Philadelphia; issue. (3) Rev. 
Thomas L. Lee of Baltimore. 



262 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

5. Elizabeth, m. Dr. Aaron B. Tucker of Baltimore, 
Md., and had: (1) Charles Carroll, who m. Susan 
Howell, and had : John H., Charles H. (2) St. George. 

Charles Carroll of Doughoregan Manor, Mr., b. 
1801 ; d. 1862 ; m. 1825, Mary Digges, daughter of John 
Lee of Norwood, Frederick Co., Md., and had issue : 

1. Charles of Doughoregan Manor, d. s. p. He m. 
1858, Caroline, daughter of Judge Lucas P. Thomp- 
son, of Staunton, Va. 

2. John Lee of Doughoregan Manor, ex-Governor 
of Maryland. He m. 1st, 1856, Anita, daughter of 
Royal Phelps of New York; she d. 1873. He m. 2dly, 
Mary Carter, daughter of Judge Lucas P. Thompson, 
of Staunton, Va. and had : Philip Acosta. By his first 
wife he had (1) Charles, m. Suzanne Bancroft. (2) 
Mary Louise, m. 8 Dec. 1886, Count Jean de Kergolay. 
(3) Royal Phelps of New York, m., 1891, Marion, 
daughter of Eugene Langdon. (4) Helen, m. Herbert 
Daniel Robbins. (5) John Lee. (6) Anita, m. 14 Oct. 
1886, Baron Louis La Grange. (7) Mary Irene, d. 
unm. 8 Nov. 1888. 

3. Louise, m. George Cavendish Taylor of England ; 
issue. 

4. Albert Henry, C. S. A., killed in battle 1862; m., 
1858, Mary Cornelia, daughter of William George 
Read, and had: (1) Mary Sophia, (2) Mary Elinor. 
(3) Agnes. 

5. Robert Goodloe Harper of Baltimore, m., 1st, 
Eleanor Thompson, d. s. p.; 2dly, 1872, Mary D. Lee 
of Frederick Co., Md., and had: (1) Albert. (2) 
Charles. 

6. Helen Sophia, m., 1863, Charles Oliver O'Don- 
nell, of Baltimore, and had: (1) John. (2) Mary 
Acosta. (3) Aline. ' 

7. Mary, m. Dr. Elisee Acosta of Paris ; issue. 

8. Thomas Lee of Baltimore. 



CARROLLS OF THE PAST AND TO-DAY 263 

Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the present head of 
the family, is the son of Governor John Lee Carroll. 
He married Miss Suzanne Bancroft, granddaughter 
of George Bancroft, the historian. 

His son is Charles Bancroft Carroll, who married 
Miss Anita Hack of Baltimore, in April, 1914. Mrs. 
Carroll is the daughter of Mr. Frederick H. Hack of 
Baltimore and granddaughter of Mr. B. F. Newcomer. 
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bancroft Carroll have two chil- 
dren, Charles Carroll and Anita Marie Louise Car- 
roll. Mr. Charles Bancroft Carroll is an officer in the 
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CHAPTER XXIX 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

JULY 4, 1776 

(REPORTED DRAFT) 

A Declaration by the Representatives of the 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA in General Con- 
gress assembled. 

When in the course of human events it becomes 
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 
which have connected them with another and to assume 
among the powers of the earth the separate and equal 
station to which the laws of nature and of nature's 
God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of 
mankind requires that they should declare the causes 
which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men 
are created equal; that they are endowed by their 
creator with inherent & inalienable rights, that among 
these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; 
that to secure these rights governments are insti- 
tuted among men deriving their just powers from 
the consent of the governed ; that whenever any form 
of government becomes destructive of these ends, it 
is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and 
to institute new government, laying its foundation 
on such principles and organizing its powers in such 
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect 
their happiness. Prudence indeed wall dictate that 
governments long established should not be changed 
for light and transient causes: and accordingly all 
experience hath shown that mankind are more dis- 
posed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to 
right themselves by abolishing the forms to which 

[265] 



266 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

they are accustomed. But when a long train of 
abuses and usurpations begun at a distinguished 
period and pursuing invariably the same object, 
evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despot- 
ism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such 
government and to provide new guards for their future 
security. Such has been the patient sufferance of 
these colonies, and such is now the necessity which 
constrains them to expunge their former systems of 
government. The history of the present king of Great 
Britain is a history of unremitting injuries and usurpa- 
tions, among which appears no solitary fact to con- 
tradict the uniform tenor of the rest; but all having 
in direct object the establishment of an absolute 
tyranny over these states. To prove this let facts 
be submitted to a candid world, for the truth of which 
we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood. 

He has refused his assent to laws the most whole- 
some and necessary for the public good : 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of 
immediate and pressing importance, miless suspended 
in their operation till his assent should be obtained, 
and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to 
attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommo- 
dation of large districts of people unless those people 
would relinquish the right of representation, in the 
legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable 
to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places 
unusual, uncomfortable and distant from the deposi- 
tory of their public records, for the sole purpose of 
fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved Representative houses repeatedly 
and continually for opposing viiih manly firmness his 
invasions on the right of the people : 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 267 

He has refused for a long time after such dissolu- 
tions to cause others to be elected whereby the legisla- 
tive powers incapable of annihilation, have returned 
to the people at large for their exercise, the state 
remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers 
of invasion from without and convulsions within : 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of 
these states, for that purpose obstructing the laws of 
for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass 
others to encourage their migrations hither ; and rais- 
ing the conditions of new appropriations of lands : 

He has suffered the administration of justice totally 
to cease in some of these states, refusing his assent 
to laws for establishing judiciary powers : 

He has made judges dependant on his will alone, 
for the tenure of their offices and the amount and 
payment of their salaries : 

He has erected a multitude of new offices by a self 
assumed power and sent hither swarms of officers to 
harass our people and eat out their substance : 

He has kept among us in times of peace, standing 
armies and ships of war without the consent of our 
legislature : 

He has affected to render the military, independent 
of and superior to the civil power : 

He has combined with others to subject us to a juris- 
diction foreign to our constitutions and unacknowl- 
edged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of 
pretended legislation, for quartering large bodies of 
armed troops among us; for protecting them by a 
mock trial from punishment for any murders which 
they should commit on the inhabitants of these states ; 
for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; 
for imposing taxes on us without our consent; for 
depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by 
jury; for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for 



268 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

pretended offences; for abolising the free system of 
English laws in a neighboring province, establishing 
therein an arbitrary government and enlarging its 
boundaries so as to render it at once an example and 
fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule 
into these colonies; for taking away our charters, 
abolishing our most valuable laws, and fundamentally 
the forms of our governments, for suspending our own 
legislatures and declaring themselves invested with 
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever : 

He has abdicated governments here, withdrawing his 
governors, and declaring us out of his allegiance and 
protection. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, 
burnt our towns and destroyed the lives of our people : 

He is at this time transporting large armies of 
foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, 
desolation and tyranny already begun with circum- 
stances of cruelty and perfidy unworthy the head of a 
civilized nation : 

He has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of 
our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose 
known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruc- 
tion of all ages, sexes, and conditions of existence. 

He has incited treasonable insurrections of our 
fellow-citizens, with the allurements of forfeiture and 
confiscation of our property : 

He has constrained others, taken captive on the high 
seas to bear arms against their country, to become the 
executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall 
themselves by their hands : 

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, 
violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in 
the persons of distant people, who never offended 
him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 269 

another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in 
their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, 
the opprobrium of infidel poAvers, is the warfare of the 
Christian king of Great Britain. Determined to keep 
open a market where Men should be bought and sold, 
he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every 
legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this exe- 
crable commerce : and that this assemblage of horrors 
might want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now 
exciting those very people to rise in arms among 
us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has 
deprived them by murdering the people upon whom 
he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crime 
committed against the liberties of one people, with 
crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives 
of another. 

In every stage of these oppressions we have peti- 
tioned for redress in the most humble terms; our 
repeated petitions have been answered only by re- 
peated injuries. A prince whose character is thus 
marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is 
unfit to be the ruler of a people who mean to be free. 
Future ages will scarce believe that the hardiness of 
one man adventured within the short compass of twelve 
years only, to build a foundation, so broad and undis- 
guised for tyranny over a people fostered and fixed 
in the principles of freedom. 

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our 
British brethren. We have warned them from time 
to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an 
unwarrantable jurisdiction over these our states. We 
have reminded them of the circumstances of our emi- 
gration and settlement here, no one of which could 
warrant so strange a pretension: that these were 
effected at the expense of our own blood and treasure. 



270 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

unassisted by the wealth of strength of Great Britain : 
that in constituting indeed our several forms of gov- 
ernment, we had adopted a common king, thereby lay- 
ing a foundation for perpetual league and amity with 
them : but that submission to their parliament was no 
part of our constitution nor ever in idea, if history be 
credited ; and we have appealed to their native justice 
and magnanimity, as well as to the ties of our common 
kindred, to disavow these usurpations which were 
likely to interrupt our connection and correspondence. 
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of 
consanguinity, and when occasions have been given 
them, by the regular course of their laws of remov- 
ing from their councils the disturbers of our harmony, 
they have by their free elections re-established them 
in power. At this very time they are permitting their 
chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our 
own blood, but Scotch and other foreign mercenaries, 
to invade and destroy us. These facts have given the 
last stab to agonizing affections, and manly spirit bids 
us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We 
must endeavor to forget our former love for them, to 
hold them as we hold the rest of mankind enemies in 
war, in peace friends. 

We might have been a free and a great people 
together; but a communication of grandeur and of 
freedom it seems, is below their dignity. Be it so, 
since they will have it: the road to happiness and to 
glory is open to us too; we will climb it apart from 
them, and acquiesce in the necessity which denounces 
our eternal separation ! 

We therefore the representatives of the United 
States in General Congress assembled in the name and 
by authority of the good people of these states, reject 
and renounce all allegiance and subjection to the 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 271 

kings of Great Britain and all others who may here- 
after claim by, through, or under them ; we utterly dis- 
solve all political connection which may heretofore 
have subsisted between us and the people of parlia- 
ment of Great Britain, and finally we do assert and 
declare these colonies to be free and independant, 
and that as free and independant states, they have 
full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alli- 
ances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and 
things which independent states may of right do. And 
for the support of this declaration we mutually pledge 
to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred 
honour. 



272 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

(ENGROSSED COPY) 

In Congress, July 4, 1776. The Unanimous Declara- 
tion of the thirteen United States of America. 

When in the Course of human events, it becomes 
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 
which have connected them with another, and to 
assume among the powers of the earth, the separate 
and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of 
Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the 
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare 
the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 
are created equal, that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among 
these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. 
— That to secure these rights, Governments are insti- 
tuted among Men, deriving their just powers from the 
consent of the governed. — That whenever any Form 
of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it 
is the right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and 
to institute new Government, laying its foundation on 
such principles, and organizing its powers in such 
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their 
Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate 
that Governments long established should not be 
changed for light and transient causes; and accord- 
ingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more 
disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to 
right themselves by abolishing the forms to which 
they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses 
and usurpation pursuing invariably the same Object, 
evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despot- 
ism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such 
Government, and to provide new Guards for their 
future security. Such has been the patient suffer- 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 273 

ance of these Colonies ; and such is now the necessity 
which constrains them to alter their former Systems 
of Government. The history of the present King of 
Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and 
usurpations, all having in direct object the establish- 
ment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To 
prove this let Facts be submitted to a candid world. 

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most whole- 
some and necessary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of 
immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended 
in their opinion till his Assent should be obtained; 
and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to 
attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommo- 
dation of large districts of people, unless those people 
would relinquish the right of Representation in the 
Legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formid- 
able to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places 
unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the deposi- 
tory of their public Records, for the sule purpose of 
fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly 
for opposing with manl)^ firmness his invasions on the 
rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time after such dissolu- 
tions to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legis- 
lative powers, incapable of Annihilation have returned 
to the People at large for their exercise, the State 
remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers 
of invasion from without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of 
these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws 
for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass 



274 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

others to encourage their migrations hither, and rais- 
ing the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. 

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by 
refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary 
powers. 

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, 
for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and 
payment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent 
hither swarms of Officers to harass the people, and eat 
out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing 
Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. 

He has affected to render the Military independent 
of and superior to the Civil power. 

He has combined with others to subject us to a juris- 
diction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowl- 
edged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts 
of pretended Legislation: — For quartering large 
bodies of armed troops among us: — For protect- 
ing them, by a mock Trial from punishment from 
any Murders which they should commit on the Inhab- 
itants of the States : — For cutting off our trade with 
all parts of the world: — For imposing Taxes on us 
without our Consent: — For depriving us in many 
cases of the benefits of Trial by jury: — For trans- 
porting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended 
offences : — For abolishing the free System of English 
Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein 
an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Bound- 
aries so as to render it at once an example and fit 
instriunent for introducing the same absolute rule 
into these Colonies: — For taking away our Charters, 
abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering 
fundamentally the Forms of our Governments : — For 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 275 

suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring them- 
selves invested with power to legislate for us in all 
cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated Government here by declaring us 
out of his Protection and waging w^ar against us : — 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, 
burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our 
people. 

He is at this time transporting large Armies of 
foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, 
desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circum- 
stances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in 
the most barbarous ages, totally unworthy the Head of 
a civilized nation. 

He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and 
has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our 
frontier, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known 
rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of 
all ages, sexes and conditions. 

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken Captive 
on the high Seas, to bear arms against their Country, 
to become the executioners of their friends and 
Brethen, or to fall themselves by their Hands. 

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Peti- 
tioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our 
repeated Petitions have been answered only by re- 
peated injuries. 

A Prince whose character is thus marked by every 
act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler 
of a free people. 

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our 
British brethren. We have warned them from time to 
time of attempts by their legislature to extend an 
unw^arrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded 
them of the circumstances of our emigration and 
settlement here. We have appealed to their native 



276 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

justice and magnanimity and we have conjured them 
by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these 
usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our con- 
nection and correspondence. They too have been deaf 
to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must 
therefore acquiesce in the necessity which denounces 
our separation and hold them, as we hold the rest of 
mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United 
States of America, in General Congress Assembled, 
appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the 
rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by 
Authority of the good People of these Colonies, sol- 
emnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies 
are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent 
States; that they are Absolved from all allegiance to 
the British Crown, and that all political connection 
between them and the State of Great Britain, is and 
ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and 
Independent states, they have full power to le^^^ War, 
conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish commerce, 
and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent 
States may of right do. 

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm 
reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we 
mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, 
and our Sacred Honor. 



APPENDIX 



THE JOURNAL 

No life of Charles Carroll of Carrollton would be 
complete without having this Journal appended. Mr. 
Carroll regarded this trip as one of the very interest- 
ing experiences of his life and always discussed it with 
great interest and pleasure. 

Congress and General Washington believed that a 
clearer understanding betAveen this country and 
Canada should be assured. To that end a commission 
was named to go to Canada and endeavor to bring 
about a better understanding. This committee con- 
sisted of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, his cousin 
Rev. John Carroll, then a priest in Maryland, and 
afterwards the first Catholic Bishop of America, 
Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Chase. 

April 2d, 1776. Left New York at 5 o'clock p. m.; 
sailed up North River or Hudson's, that afternoon, 
about thirteen miles. About one o'clock in the night 
were awaked by the firing of cannon ; heard three great 
guns distinctly from the Asia; soon saw a great fire, 
which w^e presumed to be a house on Bedloe's Island, 
set on fire by a detachment of our troops. Intelli- 
gence had been received that the enemy were throw- 
ing up intrenchments on that island, and it had been 
determined by our generals to drive them off. Dr. 
Franklin went upon deck, and saw waving flashes of 
light appearing suddenly and disappearing, which he 
conjectured to be the fire of musketry, although he 
could not hear the report. 

[277] 



278 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

3rd. A bad, rainy day; wind north-east; quite 
ahead, a. m., eleven o'clock, opposite to Colonel Phil- 
lips' (a tory) ; pretty situation near the river; garden 
sloping down, to it, house has a pretty appearance; a 
church a little distance on the south side, surrounded 
by cedar trees. The banks of the river, on the western 
side exceedingly steep and rocky; pine trees growing 
amidst the rocks. On the eastern or New York side, 
the banks are not near so steep, they decline pretty 
gradually to the water's edge. The river is straight 
hitherto. About five o 'clock wind breezed up from the 
south ; got under way, and ran with a pretty easy gale 
as far as the highlands, forty miles from New York. 
The river here is greatly contracted, and the lands on 
each side very lofty. When we got into this strait 
the wind increased, and blew in violent flaws; in 
doubling one of these steep craggy points we were in 
danger of running on the rocks ; endeavored to double 
the cape called St. Anthony's nose, but all our efforts 
proved ineffectual; obliged to return some w^ay back 
in the straits to seek shelter; in doing this our main- 
sail was split to pieces by a sudden and most violent 
blast of wind off the mountains. Came to anchor; 
blew a perfect storm all night and all day the fourth. 
Remained all day (the fourth) in Thunder Hill bay, 
about half a mile below Cape St. Anthony's nose, and 
a quarter of a mile from Thunder Hill. Our crew were 
employed all this day in repairing the mainsail. The 
country around about this bay has a wild and roman- 
tic appearance; the hills are almost perpendicularly 
steep, and covered with rocks and trees of a small size. 
The hill called St. Anthony's nose is said to be full of 
sulphur. I make no doubt this place has experienced 
some violent convulsion from subterraneous fire; the 
steepness of the hills, their correspondence, the nar- 



APPENDIX 279 

rowness of the river, and its depth all confirm me in 
this opinion. 

5th. Wind at north-east, mainsail not yet repaired. 
Sailed about twelve o'clock from Thunder Hill bay; 
just before we doubled Cape St. Anthony's nose, Mr. 
Chase and I landed to examine a beautiful fall of 
water. Mr. Chase, very apprehensive of the leg of 
mutton being boiled too much, impatient to get on 
board; wdnd breezing up, we had near a mile to row 
to overtake the vessel. As soon as we doubled Cape 
St. Anthony's nose a beautiful prospect opened on us. 
The river, from this place to Constitution fort, built 
on Marbler's rock, forms a fine canal, surrounded with 
high hills of various shapes, one, in particular, resem- 
bles a sugar loaf, and is so called. About three miles 
from Cape St. Anthony's nose is another beautiful 
cascade called * ' The Buttermilk. ' ' This is formed by 
a rivulet which flows from a lake on the top of a 
neighboring mountain, this lake, we were told, abounds 
with trout and perch. Arrived about five o'clock at 
Constitution fort; Mr. Chase went with me on shore 
to visit the fort ; it is built on a rock called Marbler 's 
rock; the river at this place makes a sudden bend to 
the west; the battery (for it does not deserve the name 
of a fort, being quite open on the northeast side) 
has two flanks, one fronting the south, and the other 
the west ; — on the south flank were planted thirteen 
six and one nine pounder ; on the west flank, seven nine 
pounders and one six pounder, but there were no can- 
noneers in the fort, and only one hundred and two men 
fit to do duty ; — they intend to erect another battery 
on an eminence called Gravel hill, which will command 
vessels, coming up the river as soon as they double 
Cape St. Anthony's nose. A little above this cape a 
battery is projected to annoy the enemy's vessels, to 
be called Fort Montgomery; they intend another bat- 



280 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

tery lower down the river, and a little below Cape St. 
Anthony's nose. In the highlands are many con- 
venient spots to construct batteries on; but in order 
to make them answer the intended purpose, weighty 
metal should be placed on these batteries, and skillful 
gunners should be engaged to serve the artillery. 
About nine o'clock at night, the tide making, we 
weighed anchor, and came to again about two o 'clock in 
the morning, the sixth instant. The river is remark- 
ably deep all the way through the highlands, and the 
tide rapid. When we came to an anchor off Constitu- 
tion fort we found the depth of water above thirty 
fathoms. These highlands present a number of roman- 
tic views, the steep hills overshadow the water, and 
in some places the rocks, should they be rolled down, 
would fall into the river several feet from the banks 
on which they stood. This river seems intended by 
nature to open a communication between Canada and 
the province of New York by water, and, by some great 
convulsion a passage has been opened to the waters of 
Hudson's River through the highlands. These are 
certainly a spur of the Endless mountains. 

6th. Weighed anchor about seven o'clock in the 
morning; had a fine breeze; the country more culti- 
vated above the highlands ; passed several mills, all of 
them overshot; saw two frigates on the stocks at 
Pokeepsay, building for the service of the United 
Colonies ; saw a great many lime-kilns in our run this 
morning, on both sides of the river, the banks of which 
begin to slope more gradually to the water's edge. We 
wrote to General Heath, from off the Constitution fort, 
and sent the letter to the commanding officer of the 
fort, mth orders to forward it by express immediately 
to the general at New York. The purport of the letter 
was to inform the general of the very defenceless con- 
dition of the fort, that measures might be immediately 



APPENDIX 281 

taken to put it in a better posture of defence. If 
Howe was a man of enterprise, and knew of the weak 
state of the fort, he might take it in it's present situa- 
tion with sixty men, and without cannon. He might 
land his party a little below the fort on the east side, 
march over a marsh, and attack it on the back part. It 
was proposed to erect a battery of some cannon to 
sweep this marsh ; but this, and also the battery above 
mentioned, on Gravel hill, have been strangely 
neglected, and nothing as yet has been done towards 
constructing either of these batteries, more than 
levelling the top of Gravel hill. 

Six o'clock p. M., came to anchor four miles from 
Albany ; had a most glorious run this day, and a most 
pleasant sail; including our run in the night, we ran 
this day ninety-six miles — Constitution fort being 
one hundred miles from Albany, and sixty from New 
York. We passed several country houses pleasantly 
situated on the banks, or rather, eminences command- 
ing the banks of the river; the grounds we could dis- 
cover from the vessel did not appear to be highly 
improved. We had a distant view of the Katskill moun- 
tains. These are said to be some of the highest in 
North America; they had a pleasing appearance, the 
weather being somewhat hazy, they appeared like 
bluish clouds at a great distance ; when we were near- 
est to them, they were distant about ten miles. Vast 
tracts of land on each side of Hudson 's river are held 
by the proprietaries, or, as they are here styled, the 
Patrones of manors. One of the Ransalaers has a 
grant of twenty miles on each side of the river. Mr. 
Robert R. Livingston informed me that he held three 
hundred thousand acres. I am told there are but ten 
original patentees between Albany and the Highlands. 
The descendants of the first proprietaries of these 



282 CHAELES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

immense tracts still keep them in possession ; necessity 
has not as yet forced any of them to sell any part. 

7th. Weighed anchor this morning about six o 'clock. 
Wind fair ; having passed over the overslaw, had a dis- 
tinct view of Albany, distant about two miles; — landed 
at Albany at half past seven o 'clock ; received at land- 
ing, by Generax, Schuyler, who, understanding we 
were coming up, came from his house, about a mile out 
of town, to receive us and invite us to dine with him ; 
he behaved with great civility; lives in pretty style; 
has two daughters (Betsy and Peggy) lively, agree- 
able, black-eyed girls. Albany is situated partly on a 
level, and partly on the slope of a hill, or rising 
ground, on the west side of the river. Vessels drawing 
eight and nine feet of water may come to Albany, and 
five miles beyond it, at this season of the year, when 
the waters are out. The fort is in a ruinous condition, 
and not a single gun mounted on it. There are more 
houses in this town than in Annapolis, and I believe it 
to be much more populous. The citizens chiefly speak 
Dutch, being mostly the descendants of Dutchmen ; but 
the English language and manners are getting ground 
apace. 

9th. Left Albany early this morning, and travelled 
in a wagon in company with Mrs. Schuyler, her two 
daughters, and Generals Schuyler and Thomas. At 
six miles from Albany I quitted the wagon and got on 
horseback to accompany the generals to view the falls 
on the Mohawk's river, called the Cohoos. The per- 
pendicular fall is seventy-four feet, and the breadth of 
the river at this place, as measured by General Schuy- 
ler, is one thousand feet. The fall is considerably 
above one hundred feet, taken from the first ripple or 
still water above the perpendicular fall. The river 
was swollen with the melting of the snows and rains, 
and rolled over the frightful precipice an impetuous 



APPENDIX 283 

torrent. The foam, the irregularities in the fall 
broken by projecting rocks, and the deafening noise, 
presented a sublime but terrifying spectacle. At fifty 
yards from the place the water dropped from the 
trees, as it does after a plentiful shower, they being 
as wet with the ascending vapor as they commonly are 
after a smart rain of some continuance. The bottoms 
adjoining the river Hudson are fine lands, and 
appeared to be well cultivated; most of them that we 
passed through were in wheat, which though commonly 
overflowed in the spring, we were informed by our 
driver, suffered no hurt, but were rather improved by 
inundation. We arrived in the evening, a little before 
sunset, at Saratoga, the seat of General Schuyler, dis- 
tant from Albany thirty-two miles. We spent the whole 
day in the journey, occasioned by the badness of the 
roads, and the delay the wagons met with in crossing 
two ferries. The roads at this season of the year are 
generally bad, but now worse than ever, owing to the 
great number of wagons employed in carrying the 
baggage of the regiments marching into Canada, and 
supplies to the army in that country. General Schuy- 
ler informed me that an uninterrupted water-carriage 
between New York and Quebec might be perfected at 
fifty thousand pounds sterling expense, by means of 
locks, and a small canal cut from a branch which falls 
into Hudson's river; the distance is not more than 
three miles. The river Richelieu or Sorel, is nav- 
igable for batteaux from the Lake Champlain into the 
St. Lawrence. The rapids, below St. John's, are not 
so considerable as to obstruct the navigation of such 
vessels. 

The lands about Saratoga are very good, particu- 
larly the bottom lands. Hudson's river runs within 
a quarter of a mile of the house, and you have a pleas- 
ing view of it for two or three miles above and below. 



284 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

A stream called Fishkill, which rises out of Lake Sara- 
toga, about six miles from the general's house, runs 
close by it, and turns several mills; one, a grist mill, 
two saw mills (one of them carrying fourteen saw) 
and a hemp and flax mill. This mill is a new con- 
struction, and answers equally well in breaking hemp 
or flax. I requested the general to get a model made 
for me by the person who built it. Descriptions of 
machines are seldom accurately made, and when 
done with exactness are seldom understood. I was 
informed by the general that it is customary for the 
great proprietaries of lands to lease them out for three 
lives, sometimes on fee-farm-rents, reserving by way 
of rent, a fourth, or, more commonly, a tenth of all the 
produce ; but the proprietaries content themselves with 
a tenth of the wheat. On every transmutation of 
property, from one tenant to another, a quarter part 
of what the land sells for is sometimes paid to the 
original proprietary, or lord of the manor. The gen- 
eral observed to me that this was much the most 
advantageous way of leasing lands ; that in the course 
of a few years, from the frequent transmutations of 
tenants, the alienation fines would exceed the purchase 
of the fee-simple, though sold at a high valuation. 
General Schuyler is a man of a good understanding 
improved by reflection and study ; he is of a very active 
turn, and fond of husbandry, and when the present dis- 
tractions are composed, if his infirm state of health 
will permit him, will make Saratoga a most beautiful 
and most valuable estate. He saws up great quan- 
tities of plank at his mills, which before this war, was 
disposed of in the neighborhood, but the greater part 
of it sent to Albany. 

11th. Generals Thomas and Schuyler set off this 
morning for Lake George; the former to be in readi- 
ness to cross the lake on the first breaking up of the 



APPENDIX 285 

ice, the latter to forward the embarkation and trans- 
portation of military stores and supplies. 

12th. It snowed all this morning until eleven o 'clock ; 
the snow above six inches deep on the ground ; it was 
not off the neighboring hills when we left Saratoga. 

16th. This morning w^e set off from Saratoga; I 
parted with regret from the amiable family of Gen- 
eral Schuyler: the ease and affability Mdth which Ave 
were treated, and the lively behavior of the young 
ladies, made Saratoga a most pleasant sejour, the 
remembrance of which will long remain with me. We 
rode from Saratoga to McNeill's ferry (distance two 
miles and a half), crossed Hudson's river at this place 
and rode on to one mile above Fort Miller, which is 
distant from McNeill's two miles. A Mr. Dover has 
a country-seat near Fort Miller; you see his house 
from the road. There is a very considerable fall in 
the river at Fort Miller. Just above it our baggage 
was put into another boat; it had been brought in a 
wagon from Saratoga to McNeill's, carried over the 
ferry in a wagon, and then put on board a boat, in 
M^hich it was conveyed to the foot of Fort Miller Falls ; 
then carried overland a quarter of a mile and put into 
a second boat. At a mile from Fort Miller we got into 
a boat and went up the Hudson river to Fort Edward. 
Although this fort is but seven miles distant from the 
place where we took boat, we were above four hours 
rowing up. The current is exceedingly rapid, and the 
rapidity was increased by a freshet. In many places 
the current was so strong that the batteau men were 
obliged to set up with poles, and drag the boat by 
the painter. Although these fellows were active and 
expert at this business, it was with the greatest diffi- 
culty they could stem the current in particular places. 
The congress keeps in pay three companies of batteau 
men on Hudson's river, consisting each of thirty-three 



286 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

men with a captain; the pay of the men is £4.10 per 
month. The lands bordering on Hudson's river, as 
you approach Fort Edward, become more sandy, and 
the principal wood that grows on them is pine. There 
are several saw mills both above and below Fort Miller. 
The planks sawed at the mills above Fort Miller are 
made up into small rafts and left without guides to 
the current of the river; each one is marked, so that 
the raftmen that remain just below Fort Miller Falls, 
watching for them coming down, may easily know their 
own rafts. When they come over the falls they go 
out in canoes and boats and tow their rafts ashore, and 
then take them to pieces and make them again into 
larger rafts. The smaller rafts are called cribs. The 
ruins only of Fort Edward remain; there is a good, 
large inn, where we found quartered Colonel Sinclair's 
regiment. Mr. Allen, son of old Mr. Allen, is lieu- 
tenant-colonel ; he received us very politely, and accom- 
modated us with beds. The officers of this regiment 
are, in general, fine sized men, and seemed to be on a 
friendly footing; the soldiers also are stout fellows. 
17th. Having breakfasted with Colonel Allen, we 
set off from Fort Edward on our way to Fort George. 
We had not got a mile from the fort when a messenger 
from General Schuyler met us. He was sent with a 
letter by the general to inform us that Lake George 
was not open, and to desire us to remain at an inn 
kept by one Wing at seven miles distance from Fort 
Edw^ard and as many from Fort George. The country 
between Wing's tavern and Fort Edward is very 
sandy and somewhat hilly. The principal wood is 
pine. At Fort Edward the river Hudson makes a 
sudden turn to the westward ; it soon again resumes its 
former north course, for, at a small distance, we found 
it on our left and parallel with the road which we 
travelled, and which, from Fort Edward to Fort 



APPENDIX 287 

George, lies nearly north and south. At three miles, 
or thereabouts, from Fort Edward, is a remarkable 
fall in the river. We could see it from the road, but 
not so as to form any judgment of its height. We 
were informed that it was upwards of thirty feet, and 
is called the Kingsbury falls. We could distinctly see 
the spray arising like a vapor or fog from the violence 
of the fall. The banks of the river, above and below 
these falls for a mile or two, are remarkably steep and 
high, and appear to be formed or faced with a kind 
of stone very much resembling slate. The banks of 
the Mohawk's river at the Cohooes are faced with the 
same sort of stone; it is said to be an indication of 
sea-coal. Mr. Wing's tavern is in the township of 
Queensbury, and Charlotte county; Hudson's river is 
not above a quarter of a mile from his house. There 
is a most beautiful fall in the river at this place. From 
still water, to the foot of the fall, I imagine the fall 
cannot be less than sixty feet, but the fall is not per- 
pendicular ; it may be about a hundred and twenty or 
a hundred and fifty feet long, and in this length, it is 
broken into three distinct falls, one of which may be 
twenty-five feet nearly perpendicular. I saw Mr. 
Wing's patent — the reserved quit-rent is two shillings 
and six-pence sterling per hundred acres; but he 
informs me it has never been yet collected. 

18th. We set off from Wing's tavern about twelve 
o'clock this day, and reached Fort George about two 
o'clock; the distance is eight miles and a half; you 
cannot discover the lake until you come to the heights 
surrounding it, the descent from which to the lake is 
nearly a mile long; from these heights you have a 
beautiful view of the lake for fifteen miles down it. 
Its greatest breadth during these fifteen miles does not 
exceed a mile and a quarter, to judge by the eye, which, 
however, is a very fallacious way of estimating dis- 



288 CHAKLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

tances. Several rocky islands appear in the lake, cov- 
ered with a species of cedar called here hemlock. Fort 
George is in as ruinous a condition as Fort Edward, 
it is a small bastion, faced with stone, and built on an 
eminence commanding the head of the lake. There 
are some barracks in it in which the troops were quar- 
tered, or rather one barrack, which occupied almost 
the whole space between the walls. At a little distance 
from this fort, and to the westward of it, is the spot 
where the Baron Dieskau was defeated by Sir William 
Johnson. About a quarter of a mile further to the 
westward the small remains of Fort William Henry 
are to be seen across a little rivulet which forms a 
swamp, and is the morass mentioned by Sir William 
Johnson in his account of the action with Dieskau. 
Fort William Henry was taken last year by Montcalm 
and destroyed; the garrison, consisting of four hun- 
dred men and sixteen hundred others that were 
intrenched without the fort, capitulated; a consider- 
able part of these men were murdered by the Lidians 
on their march to Fort Edward, after they had 
delivered up their arms, according to the terms of 
capitulation. The bay in which Montcalm landed is 
seen from Fort George ; he left a guard of five hundred 
men only to j^rotect the boats and artillery and 
marched round over the heights to come to the south- 
ward of Fort William Henry. When on these heights 
he discovered the intrenched body without the fort, 
and seeing the great indiscretion he had been guiltj^ 
of in leaving so small a force to guard his baggage and 
boats, he rashly marched back to secure them. Had 
our troops attacked Montcalm's five hundred men they 
would probably have defeated them, taken his cannon 
and boats and forced him to surrender with his whole 
army. There was nothing to impede the attack but 
want of enterprise and conduct in the commanding 



APPENDIX 289 

officer. The neighborhood of Fort George abounds 
with limestone and so, indeed, does all the country sur- 
rounding the lake and all the island in it. Their rocky- 
coast and bottom contribute, no doubt, to the clearness 
of the lake water. Never did I see water more trans- 
parent, and to this transparency, no doubt, must be 
ascribed the excellency of the fish in this lake, which 
much exceed the fish in Lake Champlain. Lake George 
abounds with perch, trout, rock, and eels. 

19th. We embarked at Fort George this evening, 
about one o'clock, in company with General Schuyler, 
and landed in Montcalm's bay about four miles from 
Fort George. After drinking tea on shore, and arrang- 
ing matters in our boats, we again embarked and went 
about three or four miles further, then landed (the 
sun being set), and kindled fires on shore. The longest 
of the boats, made for the transportation of the troops 
over Lakes George and Champlain, are thirty-six feet 
in length and eight feet wide ; they draw about a foot of 
water when loaded, and carry between thirty and forty 
men, and are rowed by the soldiers. They have a 
mast fixed in them to which a square sail or a blanket 
is fastened, but these sails are of no use unless with 
the wind abaft or nearly so. After we left Montcalm 
bay we were delayed considerably in getting through 
the ice, but, with the help of tent poles, we opened our- 
selves a passage through it into free water. The boats 
fitted up to carry us across had a\\Tiings over them, 
under which we made up our beds, and my fellow 
travellers slept comfortably ; but this was not my case, 
for I was indisposed the whole night mth a violent 
sickness at my stomach and vomiting, occasioned by 
an indigestion. We left the place where we passed the 
night very early on the 20th. 

20th. We had gone some miles before I rose ; soon 
after I got out of bed we found ourselves entangled in 
10 



290 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

the ice. We attempted, but in vain, to break through 
it in one place, but were obliged to desist and force 
our passage through another, which we effected with- 
out much difficulty. At eight o'clock we landed to 
breakfast. After breakfast the general looked to his 
small boat ; being desirous to reach the landing at the 
north end of Lake George we set off together, but the 
general's boat and the other boat, with part of the 
luggage, soon got before us a considerable way. After 
separating we luckily fell in with the boat bringing the 
Montreal and Canada mail, by which we were informed 
that the west shore of the lake, at a place called Saba- 
tay, was much encumbered with ice, but that there was 
a free passage on the east side; accordingly we kept 
along the east shore and found it free from ice, by 
which means w^e got before the general and the other 
boat, for the general, who was foremost, had be6n 
delayed above an hour in breaking through the ice and, 
in one place, was obliged to haul his boat over a piece 
or neck of land thirty feet broad. Dr. Franklin found 
in the Canada mail, which he opened, a letter for Gen- 
eral Schuyler. When we had weathered Sabatay point 
we stood over for the western shore of the lake, and a 
mile or two below the point we were overtaken by the 
general, from whom we learned the cause of his delay. 
Mr. Chase and myself went on board the general's 
boat and reached the landing place at the south end 
of Lake George near two hours before the other boats. 
Lake George lies nearly north and south, or rather, 
as I think, somewhat to the eastward of a due north 
course. Its shores are remarkably steep, high, and 
rocky (particularly the east shore) and are covered 
with pine and cedar, or what is here termed hemlock; 
the country is wild and appears utterly incapable of 
cultivation; it is a fine deer country, and likely 
to remain so, for I think it never will be inhabited. 



APPENDIX 291 

I speak of the shores, and I am told the inland 
country resembles these. The lake, in its greatest 
width, does not exceed, I think, two miles; the 
widest part is nearest the north end, immedi- 
ately before you enter the last narrows, which 
are not, in their greatest width, above half a mile. 
There are two places where the lake is considerably 
contracted, one about the middle of it, the other, as I 
have said, at the north end; this last gradually con- 
tracts itself in breadth to the size of an inconsiderable 
river and, suddenly, in depth, to that of a very shallow 
one. The landing place of Lake George is a few yards 
to the southward of the first fall or ripple in this river, 
through which the waters of Lake George drain into 
Lake Champlain. We passed through this ripple and, 
though our boat did not draw above seven or eight 
inches, her bottom raked the rocks; the water ran 
through this passage about as swift as it does through 
your tail race. From the landing place to Ticonderoga 
it is three miles and a half. The boats, in coming 
through Lake George, pass through the passage just 
described and unload at a quarter of a mile below the 
usual landing place. Their contents are then put into 
wagons and carried over to Ticonderoga. General 
Schuyler has erected a machine for raising the boats 
when emptied and then letting them gently down on 
a carriage constructed for the purpose, on which they 
are drawTi overland to Ticonderoga, on Lake Cham- 
plain, to carry the troops over the last mentioned lake 
and down the Sorel into the river St. Lawrence. These 
carriages consist of four wheels, united by a long sap- 
ling, at the extremities of which the wheels are placed ; 
over the axletrees is fixed a piece of wood on which 
each end of the boat is supported and made fast by a 
rope secured round a bolt at the undermost part and 
in the centre of the axletree. This bolt is made of 



292 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

iron, and passes through the aforesaid pieces of wood 
and the axletree. These carriages are drawn by six 
oxen, and this morning (21st instant) I saw three or 
four boats carried over upon them. Lake George, 
from the south end of it to the landing place at the 
north extremity, is thirty-six miles long. Its average 
width does not, I think, exceed a mile, and this breadth 
is interspersed and broken by innumerable little rocky 
islands formed of limestone, the shores of which are 
commonly so steep that you may step from the rocks 
into ten or twelve feet of water. The season was not 
sufficiently advanced to admit of catching fish, a cir- 
cumstance we had reason to regret, as they are so 
highly praised by the connoisseurs in good eating and 
as one of our company is so excellent a judge in this 
science. There are no considerable rivers that empty 
themselves into Lake George. We saw some brooks 
or rivulets which, I presume, after the melting of the 
snows, are almost dry. The lake must be fed, prin- 
cipally with springs, the melting of snows and the tor- 
rents that must pour into it from its high and steep 
shores after rains. As there is no considerable river 
that flows into it, so is the vent of its water into Lake 
Champlain very inconsiderable. In summer you may 
step, dry-footed, from rock to rock, in the place which 
I have called the first ripple, and which I said we 
passed coming out of Lake George. The water sud- 
denly shallows from a great depth to nine or ten feet 
or less. This change is immediately discoverable by 
the great change in the color of the water. The lake 
water is of a dark bluish cast, and the water of the 
river of a whitish color, owing not only to the differ- 
ence of the depth, but the difference of the bottoms and 
shores wiiich, adjoining the river, are of white clay. 
21st. I took a walk this evening to the saw mill 
which is built on the principal fall of the river flowing 



APPENDIX 293 

from Lake George into Lake Champlain. At the foot 
of this fall, which is about thirteen feet high, the river 
is navigable for batteaux into Lake Champlain. From 
the saw mill to the place where the batteaux are put 
on carriages to be carried overland the distance is one 
mile and a half. I saw them unload a boat from the 
carriage and launch it at the same time into the river ; 
this was performed by thirty-five or forty men. To-day 
they carried over this portage fifty batteaux. I saw 
the forty-eighth put on the carriage. A little to the 
northwestward of the saw mill, on the west side of the 
river, I visited the spot where Lord Howe was killed. 
At a small expense a continued navigation for batteaux 
might be made between the Lakes George and Cham- 
plain by means of a few locks. General Schuyler 
informed me that locks, sufficient and adequate to the 
above purpose, might be constructed for fifteen hun- 
dred pounds sterling. There are but four or five falls 
in this river, the greatest of which is not above four- 
teen or fifteen feet. But the general informs me a 
much more advantageous water carriage may be 
opened through Wood creek which falls into Lake 
Champlain at Skeensborough, twenty-eight miles south 
of Ticonderoga. The general proposes to have this 
creek accurately surveyed, the heights ascertained, 
and estimate made of the expense of erecting locks on 
Wood creek and the most convenient branch which 
heads near it and falls into Hudson's river. If this 
water communication between Lake Champlain and 
the province of New York should be perfected there 
is little danger of the enemy's gaining the mastery of 
Lake Champlain, or of their ever having it in their 
power to invade these colonies from Canada with any 
prospect of success, besides the security which will be 
obtained for the colonies in time of war by making 
this navigation. Trade, during peace, will be greatly 



294 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

benefited by it, as there will then be a continued water 
communication between New York and Canada with- 
out the inconvenience and expense attending the port- 
age overland. 

22nd. I this morning took a ride with General 
Schuyler across the portage, or from the landing place 
at the bottom of Lake George, to Ticonderoga. The 
landing place is properly on the river which runs out 
of Lake George into Lake Champlain, and may be a 
mile and a half from the place where the former may 
be said to terminate, i. e., where the lake is contracted 
into a river, as a current and shallow water. This 
river, computing its length from the aforesaid spot 
to the foot of the falls at the saw mills, and its wind- 
ings, which are inconsiderable, is not more than four 
or five miles long. From the foot of the saw mill falls 
there is still water into Lake Champlain; it is at the 
foot of these falls that the batteaux, brought overland, 
are launched into the water and the artillery and the 
apparatus belonging to it are embarked in them; the 
stores, such as provisions, ball, powder, etc., are 
embarked from Ticonderoga. At sixty or seventy 
yards below the saw mill there is a bridge built over 
the river — this bridge was built by the king during 
the last war — the road from the landing place to 
Ticonderoga passes over it and you then have the 
river on the right; when you have passed the bridge 
you immediately ascend a pretty high hill and keep 
ascending till you reach the famous lines made by the 
French in the last war, which Abercrombie was so 
infatuated as to attack with musketr^^ onl}^ — his can- 
non was lying at the bridge about a mile or something 
better from these lines. The event of the day is too 
well known to be mentioned; we lost (killed and 
wounded) near one thousand, six hundred men; had 
the cannon been brought up the French would not have 



APPENDIX 295 

waited to be attacked — it was morally impossible to 
succeed against these lines with small arms only, par- 
ticularly in the manner they were attacked ; our army 
passing before them and receiving a fire from the 
whole extent ; whereas, had it marched lower down, or 
to the northwest of these lines it would have flanked 
tjiem; they were constructed of large trunks of trees, 
felled on each other, with earth thrown up against 
them. On the side next the French troops they had, 
besides felling trees, lopped and sharpened their 
branches and turned them towards the enemy; the 
trunks of the trees remain to this day piled up as 
described, but are fast going to decay. As soon as 
you enter these lines you have a full view of Lake 
Champlain and Ticonderoga fort, distant about a 
quarter of a mile. The land from thence graduall}^ 
declines to the spot on which the fort is built. Lake 
Champlain empties itself opposite the fort and runs 
south twenty-eight miles to Skeensborough. Crown 
Point is fifteen miles down the lake from Ticonderoga. 
The lake is nowhere broad in sight of the last men- 
tioned place, but the prospect from it is very pleasing ; 
its shores are not as steep as those of Lake George; 
they rise gradually from the water and are covered 
more thickly with woods which grow in good soils, or 
at least in soils much better than can be seen on Lake 
George. There is but one settlement on the latter, 
at Sabatay point ; I understood there were about sixty 
acres of good land at that point. Ticonderoga fort is 
in a ruinous condition ; it was once a tolerable fortifica- 
tion. The ramparts are faced with stone. I saw a 
few pieces of cannon mounted on one bastion, more 
for show, I apprehend, than service. In the present 
state of affairs this fort is of no other use than as an 
entrepot or magazine for stores, as from this place all 
supplies for our army in Canada are shipped to go 



296 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

down Lake Champlain. I saw four vessels, viz., three 
schooners and one sloop ; these are to be armed to keep 
the mastery of the lake in case we should lose St. 
John 's and be driven out of Canada ; in the meantime 
they will be employed in carrying supplies to our 
troops in that country. Of these three schooners two 
were taken from the enemy on the surrender of St. 
John's; one of them is called the '' Royal Savage," 
and is pierced for twelve guns; she had, when taken, 
twelve brass pieces, I think four- and six-pounders; 
these were sent to Boston. She is really a fine vessel 
and built on purpose for fighting; however, some 
repairs are wanted; a new mainmast must be put in, 
her old one being shattered with one of our cannon 
balls. When these vessels are completely rigged, 
armed and manned, we may defy the enemy on Lake 
Champlain for this summer and fall at least, even 
should we unfortunately be driven out of Canada. 
When our small army last summer, or rather fall (in 
number about one thousand seven hundred) came to 
Isle aux Noix this vessel was almost ready to put to 
sea, she wanted only as much to be done to her as could 
easily have been finished in three days, had the enemy 
exerted themselves. Had she ventured out our expe- 
dition to Canada must have failed and probably our 
whole army must have surrendered, for she was 
greatly an overmatch for all the naval strength we 
then had on the lake. Had Preston, who commanded 
at St. John's, ventured out with his garrison, consist- 
ing of six hundred men, and attacked our people at 
their first landing he would in all probability have 
defeated them, as they were a mere undisciplined 
rabble, made up chiefly of the offings and outcasts of 
New York. 

23rd. We continued this day at the landing place, 
our boats not being yet ready and fitted to carry us 



APPENDIX 297 

through Lake Champlain. General Schuyler and the 
troops were busily engaged in carting overland to the 
saw mill the batteaux, cannon, artillery stores, pro- 
visions, etc., there to be embarked on the navigable 
waters of Lake Champlain and transported over that 
lake to St. John's. 

24th. We this day left the landing place at Lake 
George and took boat at the saw mill. From the saw 
mill to Ticonderoga the distance by water is about a 
mile; the water is shallow, but sufficiently deep for 
batteau navigation. A little below the bridge before 
mentioned the French, during the last war, drove 
pickets into the river to prevent our boats getting 
round from the saw mill to Ticonderoga with the artil- 
lery; some of the pickets still remain, for both our 
boats struck on them. Ticonderoga fort is beautifully 
situated, but, as I said before, it is in a ruinous con- 
dition; neither is the place, in my opinion, judicially 
chosen for the construction of a fort; a fort con- 
structed at the saw mill would much better secure the 
passage or pass into the province of New York by way 
of Lake George. Having waited at Ticonderoga an 
hour or tM^o to take in provisions for the crews of both 
boats, consisting entirely of soldiers, we embarked at 
eleven o'clock and reached Crown Point a little after 
three with the help of our oars only. Crown Point 
is distant from Ticonderoga only fifteen miles. The 
lake all the way from one part to another is narrow, 
scarce exceeding a mile on an average. Crown Point 
is situated on a neck or isthmus of land on the west 
side of the lake ; it is in ruins. It was once a consider- 
able fortress and the English must have expended a 
large sum in constructing the fort and erecting the 
barracks, which are also in ruins. A great part of the 
ditch is cut out of the solid limestone rock. This ditch 
Avas made by blowing the rocks, as the holes bored for 



298 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

the gunpowder are plainly to be seen in the fragments. 
By some accident the fort took fire, the flames com- 
municated to the powder magazine, containing at that 
time ninety-six barrels. The shock was so great as 
to throw down the barracks, at least the upper stories. 
The explosion was distinctly heard ten miles off, and 
the earth shook at that distance as if there had been 
an earthquake. This intelligence I received from one 
Faris, who lives ten miles down the lake and at whose 
house we lay this night. The woodwork of the bar- 
racks is entirely consumed by fire, but the stonework 
of the first stories might be easily repaired and one 
of these barracks might be converted into a fine manu- 
factory. The erecting of these barracks and the fort 
must have cost the government not less, I dare say, 
than one hundred thousand pounds sterling. The lake 
is narrow opposite the fort and makes a bend by which 
the vessels passing on the lake were much exposed to 
the artillery of the fort, and this advantageous situa- 
tion first induced the French and then the English to 
erect a fort here. The French fort was inconsiderable 
and close to the water; the English fort is a much 
more extensive fortification and farther from the lake, 
but so as to command it. 

25th. We set off from Faris 's at five o'clock in the 
morning. If Faris 's information may be relied on, 
his and the neighboring lands are exceedingly fine; 
he told us he had reaped thirty bushels of wheat from 
the acre; the soil appears to be good, but, to judge of 
it from its appearance, I should not think it so fertile. 
Three miles north of Faris 's the lake begins to con- 
tract itself and this contraction continues for six miles 
and is called the narrows. At Faris 's the lake is 
about two miles wide. We breakfasted in a small 
cove at a little distance to the southward of the Split 
Rock. The Split rock is nine miles from Faris 's house. 



APPENDIX 299 

At the Split rock the lake grows immediately wider as 
you go down it ; its width in this place cannot be much 
short of seven miles. When we had got four or five 
miles from the rock the wind headed us and blew a 
fresh gale, which occasioned a considerable swell on 
the lake, the wind being northeast and having a reach 
of twenty miles. We were constrained to put in at 
one McCaully's, where we dined on cold provisions. 
The wind abating about four o'clock, we put off again 
and rowed seven miles down the lake to a point of land 
a mile or two to the southward of four islands, called 
the Four Brothers ; these islands lie nearly in the mid- 
dle of the lake, which is very wide in this place, and 
continues so far as you can see down it. Mr. Chase 
and I slept this night on shore under a tent made of 
bushes. 

26th. We set off this morning at four o'clock from 
the last mentioned point, which I call '* Commis- 
sioners' Point." Wind fair; a pretty breeze. At five 
o'clock reached Schuyler's Island; it contains eight 
hundred acres and belongs to Montreson, distant seven 
miles from the Four Brothers. Schuyler's Island lies 
near the western shore. The lake continues wide; at 
ten o'clock got to Cumberland head, fourteen miles 
from Schuyler's Island. Cumberland head is the 
south point of Cumberland bay. The bay forms a deep 
recess on the western side of the lake ; its length, from 
Schuyler's Island, at th epoint of land opposite to it, 
to Cumberland head-land is fourteen miles, and its 
depth not less than nine or ten miles. The wind 
luckily favored us until we reached Cumberland head ; 
it then ceased ; it grew cloudy and soon began to rain, 
and the wind shifted to the northeast. We break- 
fasted at Cumberland head on tea and good biscuit, 
our usual breakfast, having provided ourselves with 
the necessary furniture for such a breakfast. As soon 



300 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

as it cleared up we rowed across the bay, about four 
miles wide, to Point aux Roches, so called from the 
rocks of which it is formed. Indeed it is one entire 
stone wall, fifteen feet high, but gradually inclined to 
the northeast. At that extremity it is little above the 
water. Having made a short stay at this place to 
refresh our men, we rowed round the point, hugged 
the western shore, and got into a cove which forms a 
very safe harbor. But the ground being low and 
swampy, and no cedar or hemlock trees, of the 
branches of which our men formed their tents at night, 
we thought proper to cross over to Isle la Motte, bear- 
ing from us about northeast, and distant three miles. 
The island is nine miles long and one broad. The 
southwest side of it is high land, and the water is deep 
close in shore, which is rocky and steep. We lay under 
this shore all night in a critical situation, for had the 
wind blown hard in the night, from the west, our boats 
would probably have been stove against the rocks. 
We passed the night on board the boats, under the 
awning which had been fitted up for us. This awning 
could effectually secure us from the wind and rain, and 
there was space enough under it to make up four beds. 
The beds we were provident enough to take with us 
from Philadelphia. We found them not only conven- 
ient and comfortable, but necessary, for without this 
precaution, persons travelling from the colonies into 
Canada at this season of the year, or indeed at any 
other, will find themselves obliged either to sit up all 
night, or to lie on the bare ground or planks. Several 
of the islands in Lake Champlain have different claim- 
ants, as patents have been granted by the French gov- 
ernment and the government of New York. According 
to the present division, most of them, indeed all, except 
Isle aux Noix, are in the colony of New York. 

27th. A fine morning. We left our nation's station 



APPENDIX 301 

at four 'clock and rowed ten miles to Point aux Fer, 
so called from some iron mines at no great distance 
from it; the land here, and all the adjacent country, 
is very flat and low. Colonel Christie has built a house 
at this point, which is intended for a tavern ; the place 
is judiciously chosen. A small current begins here, and 
the raf tesmen are not obliged to row ; after they bring 
their rafts to Point aux Fer, the current will carry 
them in a day to St. John 's, which is distant from this 
point thirty measured miles. Windmill point is three 
miles below Point aux Fer ; and, a mile or two below 
the former, runs the line which divides the province 
of Quebec from New York. At Windmill point the 
lake begins to contract itself to the size of a river, but 
of a large and deep one. Opposite to this point the 
width cannot be much short of two miles; six miles, 
below Windmill point, you meet with a small island 
called Isle aux Tetes: from a number of heads that 
were stuck upon poles by the Indians after a great 
battle that was fought between them on this island or 
near it. At this island the current is not only percep- 
tible but strong. We went close by the island and in 
shallow water, which gave us a better opportunity of 
observing the swiftness of the current. A mile or two 
below this island, we breakfasted at a tavern kept by 
one Stodd. At Isle aux Tetes, the river Richelieu, or 
St. John's, or Sorel, (for it goes by all these names) 
may be properly said to begin. It is in this place 
above a mile wide, deep, and the current considerable — 
its banks are almost level with the water — indeed, 
the water appears to be rather above the banks, the 
country is one continued swamp, overflowed by the 
river at this season; as you approach St. John's the 
current grows stronger. Isle aux Noix is half way 
between St. John's and Point aux Fer, and conse- 



302 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

quently fifteen miles from each; we passed close by- 
it; it is very level and low, covered at the north end 
with hazel bushes; but the land is higher than the 
banks of the river. We saw the intrenchments thrown 
up by the French during the last war, and the remains 
of the pickets driven into the river, quite across to the 
island, to prevent the English boats from getting down 
to St. John's. These fortifications induced General 
Amherst to penetrate into Canada by Oswego lake and 
the St. Lawrence, rather than run the hazard of being 
stopped at Isle aux Noix. Indeed, I believe he would 
have found it a difficult matter to force his way 
through this pass, which appears to me of great con- 
sequence in the present contest, should the forces of 
the United Colonies be obliged to evacuate Canada; 
for if we occupy and fortify this island, drive pickets 
into the river, and build row galleys and place them 
behind the pickets, or between the little islets formed 
by the several smaller islands, almost contiguous 
to Isle aux Noix, the enemy will not be able to pene- 
trate into the colonies from Canada by the way of 
Lake Champlain. It is certain that Amherst, rather 
than expose himself to the disgrace of being foiled at 
this post, chose to make a roundabout march of sev- 
eral hundred leagues, and encounter the rapids of the 
St. Lawrence, by which he lost some of his boats and 
several hundred men. Having passed the Isle aux 
Noix, the wind sprang up in our favor; assisted by 
the wind and current, we reached St. John's at three 
o'clock. Before I speak of this fortress, it may not 
be improper to make some remarks on the navigation 
of Lake Champlain, the adjacent country, and its 
appearance. The navigation appears to be very 
secure, as there are many inlets, coves and harbors, in 
which such vessels as will be used on the lake may at 
all times find shelter ; the water is deep, at least wher- 



APPENDIX 303 

ever we touched, close in with the land. There are 
several islands in the lakes, the most considerable of 
which we saw ; the principal is Grand Isle ; it deserves 
the appellation, being, as we were informed, twenty- 
seven miles long, and three or four miles wide. Isle 
la Motte is the next largest and Isle de Belle Cour 
ranks after that. Isle la Motte we touched at; the 
others we could plainly distinguish. We saw several 
of the islands on the eastern shore of the lake, some 
of which appear as large as Poplar's island ; but having 
no person on board our boats acquainted with the lake, 
we could not learn their names. The lake, on an aver- 
age, may be six miles broad ; in some places it is above 
fifteen miles wide, particularly about Cumberland bay 
and Schuyler's island; but in others it is not three 
miles, and in the narrows not above a mile and a half, to 
judge by the eye. As you go down the lake, the moun- 
tains which hem it in on the east and west extend them- 
selves wider, and leave a greater extent of fine level 
land between them and the lake on each shore. Some 
of these mountains are remarkably high. In many 
places, on or near their tops, the snow still remains. 
They form several picturesque views, and contribute 
much, in my opinion, to the beauty of the lake. The 
snow not dissolving, in their latitude, at the end of 
April is a proof of their height ; the distance at which 
some of these mountains are visible is a still stronger 
proof. Several of them may be distinctly seen from 
Montreal, which cannot be a less distance from the 
most remote than seventy or eighty miles, and 
I am inclined to think considerably further. If 
America should succeed, and establish liberty through- 
out this part of the continent, I have not the least 
doubt that the lands bordering on Lake Champlain will 
be very valuable in a short time, and that great trade 
will be carried on over Lake Champlain, between 



304 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

Canada and New York. An easy water communica- 
tion may be opened at no great expense, (if General 
Schuyler be not mistaken) between the cities of New 
York, Montreal and Quebec, and several other places 
in Canada. Richelieu, or Sorel river from Isle aux 
Tetes to St. John's, would be esteemed a large river 
even in Maryland. The navigation of it between these 
places is good, for the current is not so strong as not 
to be stemmed with oars, or a wind. At St. John 's the 
current is very rapid, and continues so, sometimes 
more, sometimes less, to Chamblay, distant twelve 
miles from St. John's. Opposite St. John's, I think 
the river is half a mile wide. 

The fortifications of St. John 's were not injured by 
the siege — they consist of earth ramparts, enclosed 
by a ditch filled with water; palisadoes, closely joined 
together, are fastened at the base of the ramparts, and 
confined by the weight of them projecting half way 
over the ditch, to prevent an escalade. There are, 
properly speaking, two forts built around some houses, 
which were converted into magazines and barracks ; the 
communication between the two is secured by a strong 
enclosure of large stakes driven deep into the ground, 
and as close as they can stand together. A ditch runs 
along this fence. The houses within the forts suffered 
much from our batteries which surrounded the forts, 
but the cannon was not heavy enough to make any 
impression on the works. Want of ammunition and 
provisions, and the inclemency of the season, obliged 
the garrison to surrender; for the soldiers were con- 
strained to hide themselves in the cellars, which are 
bomb-proof, or lie behind the mounds of earth thrown 
up within the forts, exposed to the severity of the cold 
and rains or run the risk of having their brains beaten 
out in the houses by our shot, or by a fragment of the 
walls and timbers, and bursting of the bombs. As you 



APPENDIX 305 

go down the river from Point au Fer to St. John's you 
have a distant and beautiful prospect of the mountains 
on either side of the lake. After passing Isle aux Noix, 
you have a fine view of the mountain of Chamblay, on 
the top of which is a lake stored with excellent trout 
and perch. Having dispatched a messenger to Mon- 
treal for carriages for ourselves and baggage, we 
crossed the river to go to a tavern on the east side of 
the river, about a mile from the fort. The house 
belongs to Colonel Hazen, and has greatly suffered by 
the neighborhood of the troops. There is scarcely a 
whole pane of glass in the house, the window shutters 
and doors are destroyed and the hinges stolen; in 
short, it appears a perfect wreck. This tavern is kept 
by a French woman, married to one Donaho, now a 
prisoner in Pennsylvania. 

28th. We remained at Colonel Hazen 's house. Sev- 
eral batteaux with troop arrived this daj^ and yester- 
day evening from Ticonderoga, and most of them fell 
down the river this day to Chamblay. The land 
appears to be very fertile and well adapted to pas- 
ture ; the grass began to grow fast, although the frost 
was not then out of the ground, the surface only being 
thawed. 

29th. Left Colonel Hazen 's house; crossed over to 
St. John's, where we found our caleches ready to 
receive us. After an hour's stay spent in getting our 
baggage into the carts and securing the remainder, 
which, for want of carts, we were obliged to leave 
behind us, we set off from St. John's for La Prairie, 
distant eighteen miles. I never travelled through 
worse roads, or in worse carriages. The country is 
one continued plain from St. John 's to La Prairie, and 
two-thirds of the way uncultivated, though deser\dng 
the highest cultivation. About five or six miles from 
La Prairie, vou meet with houses and ploughed lands. 



306 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

interspersed with meadows, which extend as far as you 
can see; all this tract of land is capable of being 
turned into fine meadow, and when the country 
becomes more populous, and enjoys a good govern- 
ment, I doubt not it will be all drained and made into 
excellent meadow or pasturage. Without draining, it 
will be impossible to cultivate it in any way. You have 
no view of the St. Lawrence, or of Montreal, until you 
come within three or four miles of La Prairie. At La 
Prairie, the view of the town and the river and the 
island of Montreal, together with the houses on the 
eastern side of the St. Lawrence, form a beautiful 
prospect. As far as the view extends down the river, 
you discern houses on either side of it, which are not 
divided from each other by more than four acres, 
and commonly by not more than two. From La 
Prairie you go slanting down the river to Montreal; 
this passage is computed six miles, though the river in 
a direct line across from the eastern shore to the 
town, is not more than three miles. Ships of three 
hundred tons can come up to Montreal, but they cannot 
get up above the town, or even abreast of it. The 
river where we crossed is filled with rocks and shoals, 
which occasion a very rapid current in several places. 
We were received by General Arnold on our landing 
in the most polite and friendly manner; conducted to 
headquarters, where a genteel company of ladies and 
gentlemen had assembled to welcome our arrival. As 
we went from the landing place to the general 's house, 
the cannon of the citadel fired in compliment to us as 
the commissioners of congress. We supped at the gen- 
eral's, and after supper were conducted by the general 
and other gentlemen to our lodgings — the house of 
Mr. Thomas Walker — the best built and perhaps the 
best furnished in this town. 

May 11th. Dr. Franklin left Montreal to-day to go 



APPENDIX 307 

to St. John's, and from thence to congress. The doc- 
tor's declining state of health, and the bad prospect 
of our affairs in Canada, made him take this resolution. 

12th. We set off from Montreal to go to La Prairie. 
Mr. John Carroll went to join Dr. Franklin at St. 
John's, from whence they sailed the 13th. 

13th. I went to St. John 's to examine into the state 
of that garrison, and of the batteaux. There I met 
with General Thompson and Colonel Sinclair, with 
part of Thompson's brigade. That evening I went 
with them down the Sorel to Chamblay. Major Wood 
and myself remained in the boat when we got to St. 
Therese, where the rapids begin and continue with 
some interruptions to Chamblay. Flat bottomed boats 
may go dowai these rapids in the spring of the year, 
when the water is high; even a large gondola passed 
down them this spring; but it would be very difficult, 
if not impossible, to bring a gondola up against the 
stream. I much question whether the batteaux could 
be brought up; certain it is that the labor of towing 
them up or setting them up the current with setting 
poles would be greater, and take much more time than 
carting them over the carrying place from Chamblay 
to within three miles of St. Therese. All our batteaux 
which shoot the rapids and go down the Sorel to 
Chamblay and that are brought up again to St. 
John's, are carted over the carrying place on frames 
constructed for the purpose. It was proposed by some 
to bring a gondola, built at Chamblay, over land three 
miles into the Sorel, three miles below St. Therese; 
others were of opinion it could be more easily towed up 
over the rapids. Chamblay fort is a large square stone 
building, mth square towers at each angle, a place 
intended only as a protection against the savages. I 
saw the holes made by a six pounder, when it was taken 
by Major Brown. Major Stafford might have held 



308 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

out against the force which besieged him at least for 
some days, in which time he would probably have been 
relieved by Carleton. But, by Carleton's subsequent 
behaviour, when he made an attempt to go to the relief 
of St. John's, I much question whether he would have 
taken more effectual measures to rescue Stafford. 
The taking of Chamblay occasioned the taking of St. 
John's; against the latter we should not have suc- 
ceeded without the six tons of gunpowder taken in the 
former. 

14th. I returned to Montreal by La Prairie; the 
country between Chamblay and La Prairie is 
extremel)^ fine and level, abounding with most excel- 
lent meadow-ground as you approach the St. Law- 
rence, with rich arable land round about Chamblay. 
The country lying between the St. Lawrence and the 
Sorel is the best part of Canada, and produces the 
most and best w^heat. In the year 1771 four hundred 
and seventy-one thousand bushels of wheat were 
exported out of Canada, of which two-thirds, it is 
computed, were made in the Sorel district. 

21st. This day Mr. Chase set off with me for the 
mouth of the Sorel ; we embarked from Montreal in one 
of our batteaux, and went in it as far as the point of 
land on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, opposite 
to the northern extremity of the Island of Montreal; 
here the wind being against us we took post and 
travelled on the north side of the St. Lawrence as low 
down as La Nore, where we got into a canoe, and were 
paddled down and across the St. Lawrence to our 
camp at the mouth of the Sorel ; it was a perfect calm, 
the distance is computed at nine miles. The country 
on each side the St. Lawrence is level, rich, and 
thickly seated; indeed, so thicklj^ seated, that the 
houses form almost one continued row. In going from 
La Nore to the mouth of the Sorel, we passed by 



APPENDIX 309 

Brown's battery, (as it is called) although it never had 
a cannon mounted on it. To this battery without can- 
non, and to a single gondola, ten or twelve vessels, 
under the command of Colonel Prescott surrendered. 
Major Bro^^^l, when the vessels came near to his bat- 
tery, sent an officer on board requesting Prescott to 
send another on shore to view his works. It is difficult 
to determine which was greatest, the impudence of 
Brown in demanding a surrender, or the cowardice of 
the officer, who, going back to Prescott, represented 
the difficulty of passing the battery so great and 
hazardous, that Prescott and all his officers chose to 
capitulate. Brown requested the officer who went on 
shore to wait a little until he saw the thirty-two 
pounders, which were within a half a mile, coming 
from Chamblay; says he, *' If you should chance to 
escape this battery, which is my small battery, I have 
a grand battery at the month of the Sorel, which will 
infallibly sink all your vessels." His grand battery 
was as badly provided with cannon as his little battery, 
for not a single gun was mounted on either. This 
Prescott treated our prisoners with great insolence 
and brutality. His behaviour justifies the old observa- 
tion, that cowards are generally cruel. We found the 
discipline of our camp very remiss, and everything in 
confusion; General Thomas had but lately resigned 
the command to Thompson, by whose activity things 
were soon put on a better footing. 

22nd. We left our camp and travelled by land along 
the eastern bank of the Sorel. At five or six miles 
from the mouth of the Sorel the country grows rich, 
and continues so all the way to Chamblay. Near the 
mouth of the river it is very sandy. This part of the 
country is very populous, the villages are large and 
neat, and joined together by a continued range of 
single houses, chiefly farmers' houses. These are the 



310 CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON 

rich men in Canada; the seignieurs are in general 
poor. They were constrained by the ordinance of the 
King of France to lease their lands forever, reserving 
two dollars for every ninety acres, and some other 
trifling perquisites, as tools for grinding wheat; the 
tenants being obliged to have their wheat ground at 
their seignieurs' mills. It is conjectured that the 
farmers in Canada cannot be possessed of less than a 
million sterling in specie ; they hoard up their money 
to portion their children; they neither let it out at 
interest, nor expend it in the purchase of lands. 
Before we left the camp we ordered a detachment up 
to Montreal, under the command of Colonel De Haas, 
consisting of near four hundred men, to reinforce Gen- 
eral Arnold, and, in conjunction to drive off a party 
of the eighth regiment, who with three hundred and 
fifty savages and some Canadian, had taken our post 
at the Cedars, through the cowardice of Major Butter- 
field, and had advanced on the 25th instant within 
fifteen miles of Montreal. 

23rd. We got early this morning to Chamblay, 
where we found all things in much confusion, extreme 
disorder and negligence, our credit sunk, and no 
money to retrieve it with. We were obliged to pay 
three silver dollars for the carriage of three barrels of 
gunpowder from Little Chamblay river to Longueil, 
the officer who commanded the guard not having a 
single shilling. 

24th. Colonel De Haas's detachment got into Mon- 
treal this evening; the day before we also arrived 
there, having crossed the St. Lawrence in a canoe from 
Longueil. 

25th. In the evening of this day Colonel De Haas's 
detachment marched out of Montreal to join General 
Arnold at La Chine ; they were detained from want of 
many necessaries, which we were obliged to procure 



APPENDIX 311 

for them, General Wooster being without money, or 
pretending to be so. The enemy, hearing from our 
enemies in Montreal, of this reinforcement, had 
retreated precipitately to Fort St. Anne's, at the 
southern extremity of the Island of Montreal, and from 
thence had crossed over to Quinze Chiens, on the north 
side of the St. Lawrence. 

29th. We left Montreal this day at three o 'clock, to 
go to Chamblay, to be present at a council of war of 
the generals and field-officers for concerting the opera- 
tions of the campaign. 

30th. The council of war was held this day, and 
determined to maintain possession of the country 
between the St. Lawrence and Sorel, if possible ; in the 
meantime to dispose matters so as to make an orderly 
retreat out of Canada. 

31st. Set off from Chamblay for St. John's; all 
things there in confusion ; slept at Mrs. Donaho 's. 

June 1st. Crossed over this morning to St. John's, 
where General Sullivan, with fourteen hundred men 
had arrived in the night of the 31st past; saw them 
aU under arms. It began to rain at nine o'clock and 
continued raining very hard until late in the evening; 
slept at Donaho 's. 

2nd. Crossed over again to the camp ; took leave of 
General Sullivan, and sailed from St. John 's at six this 
morning, with a fair wind ; got to Point au Fer at one 
o'clock; got to Cumberland head about seven o'clock 
p. M. ; set off from thence about nine, and row^ed all 
night. We divided our boat's crew into two watches. 

3rd. Breakfast at Willsborough ; rowed on and 
received despatches by Major Hickes; got to Crown 
Point half -past six o'clock p. m. Set off at eight, 
rowed all night, and arrived at one o 'clock in the night 
at Ticonderoga, where we found General Schuyler. 

4th. Set off this morning at five with General 



312 CHARLES CAREOLL OF CARROLLTON 

Schuyler, for Skeenesborough, and got there by two 
o'clock. The lake as you approach Skeenesborough, 
grows narrower and shallower; indeed, within five or 
six miles of Skeenesborough, it has all the appearance 
of a river. We hauled our batteau over the carrying 
place at Skeenesborough into Wood Creek. This car- 
rying place not above three hundred feet across; 
a lock may be made for two hundred pounds at 
Skeenesborough, by which means a continued naviga- 
tion would be effected for batteaux from one 
Chesshire's into Lake Champlain. Major Skeene has 
built a saw-mill, gristmill, and a forge at the entrance 
of Wood creek into Lake Champlain. Set off from 
Skeenesborough at four o 'clock, rowed up Wood creek 
ten miles to one Boyle's, here we lay all night on 
board our boat. 

5th. Set off at three in the morning and continued 
rowing up the creek to one Chesshire's. This man 
lives near Fort Ann, built by Governor Nichol- 
son in 1709. The distance from Skeenesborough to 
Chesshire's is twenty-two miles, — by land, fourteen 
only; from this it appears that Wood creek has many 
windings, in fact, I never saw a more serpentine river. 
The navigation is somewhat obstructed by trees 
drifted and piled across the creek; however, we met 
with little difficulty but in one place, where we were 
obliged to quit our boat and carry it through a narrow 
gut, which was soon performed by our crew. Two 
hundred men would clear this creek and remove every 
obstruction in six days' time. This measure has been 
recommended by the commissioners to congress, and 
congress has complied "with the recommendation, and 
orders will soon be given to General Schuyler, to clear 
it, and render the navigation easy. 

I set off with General Schuyler, on foot, from 
Chesshire's at one o'clock; walked seven miles, and 



APPENDIX 313 

then met horses coming from Jones' to us. Jones' 
house is distant nine miles from Chesshire's. We dine 
at Jones 's, and rode, after dinner, to Fort Edward ; — 
the distance is computed four miles; — Mr. Chase 
joined us this evening. He took the lower road and 
was obliged to walk part of the way. 

6th. Parted with General Schuyler this morning; 
he returned to Fort George on Lake George. We rode 
to Saratoga, where we got by seven o'clock, but did 
not find the amiable family at home. We were con- 
strained to remain here all this day, waiting the arrival 
of our servants and baggage. 

7th. Our servants and baggage being come up, we 
left Saratoga this morning at nine ; took boat and went 
down Hudson's river, through all the rapids, to 
Albany. The distance is computed thirty-six miles. 
We arrived at Albany half an hour past five. At six 
o'clock we set off for New York in a sloop, which we 
luckily found ready to sail ; got that evening and night 
twenty-four miles from Albany. 

8th. Found ourselves, this morning, twenty-four 
miles from Albany: — at seven in the morning wind 
breezed up, had a fine gale, and got below the high- 
lands ; — a very great run. 

9th. Arrived at New York at one o'clock p. m. ; 
waited on Generals Gates and Putnam, and my old 
acquaintance and friend, Mr. Moylan. About six 
o'clock in the evening got into General Washington's 
barge, in company mth Lord Stirling, and was rowed 
round by Staten Island and the Kilns, within two miles 
of Elizabeth-town, where we got by ten at night. 

10th. Set off from Elizabeth-town half-past five. 
Got to Bristol at eight o'clock p. m. : at nine, embarked 
in our boats, and were rowed down the Delaware to 
Philadelphia, where we arrived at two o'clock in the 
night. 



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